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Bad weather gives local basketball teams busy weeks ahead
Lonnie Brown
Rebels forward Lonnie Brown (No. 0), shown here against Statesboro on Dec. 14, and his teammates face a tall task of playing six games in 12 days after two makeup basketball games were added to the end of the regular season. (Mark Lastinger for the Effingham Herald.)

By Donald Heath

Special for the Effingham Herald


GUYTON – A rare snowfall, up to four inches in some areas of the county, led to the cancellation of four school days and played havoc with the high school basketball scene.

With safety in the forefront, officials from the school district closed school on Jan. 22 as freezing temperatures and precipitation threatened to collide.

That’s exactly what happened in the early hours of Jan. 23 as ice followed by snow blanketed the area.

And for the next three days – no school, no sports. Weekend events were rescheduled as well.

South Effingham boys’ basketball coach Rico Campbell said his players will have been away from basketball for six days before returning for practice on Jan. 27.

“The thing is, everyone is in the same boat so no one is at a disadvantage,” said Campbell as the basketball regular season winds down to the final two weeks.

Last week, both South and Effingham County had to reschedule two subregion games and the much-anticipated non-region boys and girls clashes between the Mustangs and Rebels slated for last Saturday.

Monday, school officials got together to move the ECHS-SEHS games to Feb. 5.

SEHS’ originally scheduled Jan. 21 game at Brunswick is now Feb. 3 and the Jan. 24 game at Bradwell Institute is now Jan. 31.

The Mustangs will have their Senior Night on Feb. 1 against Brunswick.

Basjetball teams
The boys and girls’ basketball teams of Effingham County and South Effingham will be busy as two makeup games will be squeezed into the final two weeks of the regular season after a rare snowfall closed school in the district for four days. (Donald Heath for the Effingham Herald.)
Weather has been rough on Effingham County since the start of school. During the football season, the Rebels had to make three trips to Augusta during a nine-day span when Hurricane Helene flexed in October.

The basketball team has a similar itinerary with seven games in 12 days (Jan. 28 to Feb. 8) – six games on the road – with four games in Augusta and one in Savannah.

“We had a chance to rest a little, but on the negative side, you lose some rhythm and we had been making some progress,” ECHS boys basketball coach Tramaine Aaron said. “We had some (clusters of games – six in nine days and three in four days during the season) so we should be prepared.”

ECHS’ originally scheduled Jan. 21 game at Greenbrier is now Feb. 8 and its home game with Evans (originally Jan. 24) is now Jan. 30.

The Rebels’ remaining schedule is at Lakeside (Jan. 28), at Greenbrier (Jan. 31), at Evans (Feb. 4), at South Effingham (Feb. 5) and at Savannah Country Day (Feb. 7).

The region tournament begins Feb. 10 with all nine teams participating – five from the South subregion and four from the North.

Regular-season subregion champions automatically get byes to the semifinals and gain spots into the state tournament. Four teams from the region will advance to state.