How SW Indiana high school teams are rolling with the punches following winter storms

Posted by author January 13, 2025 Sports

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EVANSVILLE — Winter storms across Southwestern Indiana have severely impacted high school sports.

With area schools closed for almost a week, multiple games and meets have been postponed. Many girls basketball teams across the area have yet to see live action in 2025, including reigning state champion Gibson Southern.

There haven’t been many IHSAA-mandated practices with schools being closed. But the Titans, along with some other teams, did get voluntary practices under their belt. They focused more on conditioning and fundamentals rather than preparing a scout for a game.

“We haven’t seen them in about a week because of the weather,” coach Kyle Brasher said. “(We altered) the schedule a little bit, but at the end of the day, we don’t get weather like this that often. So when we get it, we want to enjoy it and just kind of roll with the punches as best as we can.”

Brasher also recalls not being at school for two weeks in 2021 because of snow and ice. But he and his team have enjoyed the opportunities of playing and sledding in the snow. North girls basketball coach Tyler Choate has also enjoyed watching “Bluey” with his three-year-old during this extra down time.

Choate and the Huskies have learned to make the most out of bad situations. Junior Zhaeyana Cooper was able to get extra shots up on her own time as her father, Bernard, is employed at the Dream Center. Choate, who became North’s athletics director two weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic, added the winter storms have been challenging in terms of rescheduling sporting events.

What Choate has prided to his fellow North coaches is that they will get his best effort. The biggest goal for him and his fellow administrators is to get back to school and have students back in their classrooms safely. Their next goal is making adjustments so that all sports can experience a full schedule.

“Unfortunately, the girls are kind of used to going on breaks and having to adjust,” Choate said. “I give our girls credit in particular. They showed up for practice and had good energy, and we had two good practices. Optimistically, we’re excited to move forward whenever we can get back on the court.”

Many more basketball teams are eager to return to live action, including North Posey’s boys. Coach Rusty Seymour recalls a conversation he had with Mount Vernon’s Joe Newcomb during the week. Newcomb suggested moving up their upcoming contest in Poseyville two days before its original date.

“I’m like, ‘Man, I don’t think that’s going to be a possibility,'” Seymour said. “We were going to play without (having IHSAA-mandated practices) this week. That kind of tells you where we’re at as coaches with getting to the gym and trying not to have to cancel games or practices.”

Weather permitting, Gibson Southern’s girls will return to Titan Fieldhouse against Boonville Monday; North’s girls next game is at Husky Arena against Jasper on Tuesday. While Mount Vernon vs. North Posey is slated to be played on Jan. 29, the Vikings are scheduled to play at Tecumseh on Thursday.

“They will be refreshed getting a long break like this, but it also doesn’t take long for these guys to get out of shape,” Seymour said. “Basketball is a sport where you’re running constantly and getting up and down the floor, so that’s my main concern and worry with them is to make sure we’re not getting tired and we’re able to perform in the third and fourth quarter of a game.”

Choate hopes his team is ready to play as it has constantly dealt with sickness and injuries this winter.

“What I told our girls at practice is that the sectional date, they’re not changing it,” Choate said. “We just lost a week (but) we’re not losing any games. It means we’re going to play more games in a less amount of time. I think our girls are excited about that because they don’t have to listen to me at practice as much when we’re playing games.”