When the Home Game is an Hour Away

 If you've been reading this blog for any time, you know that it deals with the rural Great Basin high desert. If you're not quite sure what rural means, this post might help.

This year there is great excitement as the local high school has its first-ever girls basketball team. But there are only three players, which isn't enough for a team. So they have joined forces with the nearest high school to join them. This nearest high school is an hour away on dirt roads (there is no paved road that goes to the high school). The four girls on the team there mean that the grand total for the team is seven players. They take turns practicing at either end of the valley, meaning on some days the girls have a two-hour round trip drive just for practice.

We went to their first home game, West Desert vs. West Ridge, the hawks vs. the eagles.

West Desert has a beautiful gym.

When you only have seven players on a team, it's hard to scrimmage, so the girls were still learning some of the finer points of how to play and rules of the game. They put their heart and soul into it, and I found the game very fun to watch.

The game wasn't just basketball, it also involved a lot of wrestling over the ball. This happened probably a dozen times.

At one point, one of the seven players had injured her ankle. Another had fouled out. Then one got a bloody nose and left the court. That meant there were just four Hawks on the floor. They still managed to make a basket!

Nevertheless, they were outplayed that night. Still, the Hawks learned some good points and will play again.

After the game, the home team and most of the spectators headed to the school cafeteria for a delicious dinner. The away team got into the bus and started on their four-plus hour drive back home. That made our hour drive under the full moon seem rather short.

Here's their schedule, with three games left. We look forward to watching them again!