Lawton basketball teams had to wait another day to begin their three-week journeys to the state championship.
Thanks to the unrelenting winter weather that moved into Oklahoma on Tuesday, many school districts around the state were forced to cease operations on Wednesday and Thursday. As a result, the OSSAA postponed all sporting activities, including the Class 6A and 5A regional playoffs.
The games have all been pushed back a day, with Thursday's contests moving to Friday, and contests originally scheduled for Friday moved to Saturday. The 6A and 5A regional championship games were moved from Saturday to Monday night.
All three city schools -- Lawton High, Eisenhower and MacArthur -- were affected by the change.
The Ike and Mac girl squads are both hosting a regional, and though they now play Friday, the 8 p.m. start times remained unchanged. The Lady Eagles (15-6) host Northwest Classen (10-13), while the Lady Highlanders (14-7) welcome Santa Fe South (11-13).
The hectic week of cancellations has Mac girls coach David Vann feeling uneasy.
"I'm a little on edge," Vann said. "We couldn't practice because when school is out, we're not allowed to practice at the gym. I did send some of my girls to a gym at Cameron that was open, but a lot of them didn't go because of the weather. I know the girls are anxious, but we might have a chance to go through a walk-through and a shootaround in the morning, but we're still waiting for word from the athletic director.
"I'm just ready to play and get this first game out of the way because it's the most important. If we lose the first one, we're out."
Meanwhile, the Mac boys (12-9) also take on the Saints (14-11) at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Ike boys coach Todd Millwee took a different approach to the situation.
Although the Eagles were unable to practice for most of the week, they gathered for a team dinner at Outback Steakhouse and had a short film session at one player's home.
"It's out of our control, so we just try to use it as a mental and physical break for the players," Millwee said. "Everyone else in the city and state are kind of going through the same thing, so there's not much we can do about it, but it could be a good thing for us."
Despite that, Millwee acknowledged the short break from school this week might initially have an adverse effect on his players' performance.
"I expect everybody to probably be a little rusty for our first game because this time of the year, you kind of get into a good physical rhythm where you're used to playing two or three games a week," Millwee said. "You can quickly get out of shape in two or three days just sitting around and doing nothing at home."
Ike (16-5) is set to face Guymon (6-17) on Saturday.
Both Lawton High teams also compete this weekend in regional tournament action.
The LHS girls (4-15) meet No. 1 Putnam City West at 8 p.m. on Friday. The Patriots (19-3) beat the Lady Wolverines on Jan. 9, 81-37, forcing 40 turnovers in the process.
Meanwhile, the Wolverines (8-12) travel to Midwest City for an 8 p.m. tip on Saturday. The Bombers (17-6) have already defeated LHS twice this season by a combined score of 158-117.