Andy Amey: No sleigh bells? How about a fog horn?

Jan. 25—Remember that crack last week about getting the sleigh out to get to your high school basketball games?

Well, I was bitching and moaning last Friday about the game I'd been scheduled to cover being postponed by the weather — until I tried to get out of my driveway. A sleigh would have helped.

This weekend I'm scheduled to be in Bloomington twice in less than 24 hours, which probably guarantees this fog will be around until at least Sunday.

But, as usual, there are plenty of reasons to get out.

—11. Martinsville at Sandoval, Friday doubleheader — A nice ride for both teams of Bluestreaks to a town just west of Salem, but the Martinsville girls would like to extend their winning streak after beating Dugger for the second time this season.

Yes, that was a bonus pick.

—10. Newton girls at Marshall, Saturday morning — The Lions hope to take advantage of the sleepy Eagles in a Little Illini Conference makeup game.

—9. Northview at Cloverdale and Crawfordsville — The gritty-not-pretty Knights (their words, not mine) have a chance to springboard themselves into a successful second half of the season.

—8. Riverton Parke at Parke Heritage — On paper, maybe this game doesn't belong on the list. But this remains a rivalry that could produce some surprises.

—7. Paris girls at Peoria Notre Dame, Saturday — The Tigers played for the Little Illini Conference championship on Thursday. Now they prepare for postseason play against a challenging opponent.

—6. Brown County at Sullivan — Thanks to West Vigo's win on Saturday, the Golden Arrows now control their own Western Indiana Conference destiny. And if it's foggy, they aren't the team having to make the drive.

—5. North Central at Bloomfield, Shakamak at South Vermillion, North Central at Shakamak on Saturday — The Thunderbirds have a chance to thrust themselves into the SouthWestern Indiana Athletic Conference race, the Cardinals are still formidable, the Wildcats will be playing for the second night in a row on Friday and the Lakers and T-Birds wrap up their big weekends against each other.

—4. Edgewood at West Vigo — It's homecoming in the Jim Mann Green Dome, where the Vikings have a winning streak they'd like to build on. Doing so against Edgewood would make that even nicer.

—3. Clay City at North Daviess, White River Valley at Clay City on Saturday — Two big games for the Eels, who hope to climb near the top of the SWIAC and get some help against Linton before the season's over. The Cougars, of course, have other ideas about winning a conference title, and the Wolverines are a tougher out than they used to be.

—2. Terre Haute North at Bedford North Lawrence, Saturday — Todd Woelfle likes going to Bedford so much that he and Amanda may vacation there sometime. Maybe the Stars will be worn out from a conference game the night before, but this is never an easy place to win.

—1. Terre Haute South at Bloomington South, at Evansville Bosse on Saturday afternoon — Are the Braves in the toughest stretch of their season? Oh my yes. And this weekend might be the pinnacle of it.

Two teams that are hard to beat. Both on the road. Two bus rides. Not much sleep between them. And two totally different preps for the coaches to counter the tough, deliberate, beat-you-to-death Panthers and the quick, explosive, run-you-out-of-the-gym Bulldogs.

Enjoy the weekend.

Boys Friday

Casey vs. Lawrenceville in Little Illini Conference third-place game at Newton, 7 p.m., 6 p.m. CST

Terre Haute South (7-6, 0-2) at Bloomington South (8-7, 2-1), 7:30 p.m.

Edgewood (7-10, 4-4) at West Vigo (8-8, 4-4), 7:30 p.m.

Northview (4-8, 3-3) at Cloverdale (1-14, 0-7), 7:30 p.m.

Clay City (12-3, 2-1) at North Daviess (11-4, 3-0), 7:30 p.m.

North Central (8-6, 2-1) at Bloomfield (7-8, 1-3), 7:30 p.m.

Eastern Greene (2-10, 0-3) at Linton (10-4, 3-0), 7:30 p.m.

Riverton Parke (3-11, 1-2) at Parke Heritage (13-4, 3-0), 7:30 p.m.

Shakamak (7-7) at South Vermillion (9-7 or 8-8), 7:30 p.m.

Brown County (7-8, 3-4) at Sullivan (13-3, 5-1), 7:30 p.m.

Covington (7-9, 2-1) at North Vermillion (9-7, 1-1), 7:30 p.m.

Martinsville (8-14) at Sandoval (6-13), 7:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m. CST

Olney vs. Newton in Little Illini Conference championship game at Newton, approximately 8:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m. CST

Girls Friday

Dugger Union (2-18) at Medora (7-13), 6:30 p.m.

Martinsville (2-16) at Sandoval (13-14 or 12-15), 6 p.m., 5 p.m. CST

Boys Saturday

Terre Haute South at Evansville Bosse (8-7), 1:30 p.m., 12:30 p.m. CST

Terre Haute North (13-3) at Bedford North Lawrence (11-3 or 10-4), 7:30 p.m.

Northview at Crawfordsville (7-5 or 6-6), 7:30 p.m.

White River Valley (6-8, 0-2) at Clay City, 7:30 p.m.

Linton at North Knox (6-11 or 5-12), 7:30 p.m.

North Central at Shakamak (1-2 SWIAC), 7:30 p.m.

Girls Saturday

Newton (14-10, 3-2) at Marshall (6-19, 1-4), 11 a.m., 10 a.m. CST

Paris (16-9 or 15-10) at Notre Dame (23-4 or 22-5), 3:30 p.m.,, 2:30 p.m. CST