Letter: Tides can change quickly in basketball

Sunday, Dec. 25, 2005 | 9:16 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's Dec. 17 column on Bishop Gorman High School's

88-3 victory over Valley High School ("Checking the records for a score worse than 88-3() supports evidence that anything can happen in girls basketball.

I moved to Las Vegas from cetral Ohio seven years ago where we lived in a community whose girls basketball team had won six big- school titles. Those girls with their blond ponytails were the darlings of Ohio until, as best as I can remember, they won a tournament game 102-4. The game caused a public outrage, and they were immediately transformed from darlings to bullies.

When the coach was asked why he left his starters in for so long, he responded that it was a tournament game and he wanted his girls to be mentally and physically prepared for a run at the state title. The game was a setup from the beginning since all schools in Ohio, both boys and girls, qualify for postseason play.

Of course the teams are seeded, and our school, Pickerington High School, was seeded No. 1 to play Groveport High School, the 16 seed. The situation had additional drama since they are neighboring schools and Pickerington is considered upper-middle class and Groveport is blue collar.

It seemed that from that game on, Pickerington was jinxed and appeared to lose the favor of all girls basketball fans outside of their own community. Now there are two high schools in Pickerington, and they seem to have split the talent pool.

Although they are still good, they have not reached the prominence of those earlier years.

Rick Perry

North Las Vegas