By CLAIRE CRUZ, Staff Writer
The freezing temperatures that have seemingly shut down the state of Texas are forcing many changes in the UIL basketball playoff schedules.
All six East Valley area round games that were previously set for Tuesday have been moved to Wednesday. Time and location changes have also occurred as school districts aim to avoid traveling late.
Harlingen High will now be facing San Antonio Harlan at 5 p.m. at Calallen. The Brownsville Veterans Memorial Lady Chargers are playing Victoria East at 5:30 p.m. at Corpus Christi King.
Rio Hondo had its location and time changed a handful of times before settling on the latest schedule. The Lady Bobcats are set to battle Somerset at 3 p.m. at Alice. Santa Rosa and Skidmore-Tynan will face off at 7:45 p.m. at Alice.
Lyford will battle Bishop at 6 p.m. at H.M. King in Kingsville. The Brownsville IDEA Frontier Lady Chargers will play Aransas Pass in the first area round contest in program history. The game was last set for 6 p.m. at Falfurrias middle school, but changes are looming as Falfurrias will no longer be hosting games.
All area games featuring a team from the Rio Grande Valley were pushed to Wednesday due to the weather. Some school districts in the state, including Raymondville and La Feria, have already announced closures for Wednesday as well. Others, like Brownsville ISD, will be online-only. Some school districts, such as Skidmore-Tynan and Frisco, have even canceled Thursday classes.
In boys basketball action, the St. Joseph Bloodhounds were going to play for the TAPPS District 4-5A championship Monday, then the game got pushed to Tuesday. It has since been postponed with the date and time to be announced later. TAPPS executive director Bryan Bunselmeyer announced last week that the district certification deadline for basketball was pushed back to Feb. 20 due to the impending weather situation.
No changes have been announced for any East Valley UIL boys playoffs games. The bi-district round is set to tip off on Thursday.