If basketball coaches dislike anything more than not having practice, it’s not having practice and being able to play games, too.

School activities for Andalusia, Opp and Covington County’s school systems have been canceled for the past couple days — including today — because of the cold weather that swept through our area. Roads were deemed unsafe by local officials and were closed at 4 p.m. Tuesday, except for emergency personnel.

PHS girls coach Jerry Davis said the week has been “scrambled” because school’s been out.

“We’ve got to do what we’ve got to do,” Davis said. “It’s not the most ideal situation. That’s the way it is.

“Those were three big days of practice that we really needed,” he said. “Missing practice is a big deal. It’s all about repetition.”

Earlier this week, Andalusia managed to get a practice in on Sunday to prepare for T.R. Miller on Monday. The Bulldogs will more than likely use the same game plan as they have before, AHS coach Richard Robertson said.

“We’ve already practiced what we’re going to do,” Robertson said. “They came in Sunday night and we worked in what we’re going to do down in Brewton, but we still lost by 1, and it cost us. But you know, we’re not going to do anything we haven’t already done.”

For Florala, the Wildcats lack of practices have been affected “tremendously,” Coach Troy Stewart said.

“Having to cancel practices Tuesday and Wednesday with the area tournament approaching is not what I had planned,” Stewart said before it was announced the school was canceled today. “This just means we are going to have to double up on Friday to better prepare ourselves for Geneva County.”

Stewart said he hopes the boys and girls will be ready to come back and work hard tomorrow.

“From here on out you can throw all records, wins and loses out of the way,” he said. “It’s who wants it more and I hope my players understand that, and are willing to accept that challenge.”

When the PHS boys practiced on Monday, Eagles coach Bradley Stephens said they had a good session as they worked on things that can help them get ready for tomorrow night’s homecoming game against W.S. Neal.

“We had a pretty decent practice,” Stephens said. “It kind of got rough there at the end when they announced won’t have school (Tuesday).

“We were able to fix a couple things I felt like we were able to fix,” he said. “It does kind of hurt to not have practice (Wednesday), and it doesn’t help that we’re not playing now. The boys will have to come back ready to play. We’ll have to run through some stuff before the game.”

SHS coach Rusty Andrews said he isn’t too concerned about missing practice and playing time because it gives the players some time to rest, and also that there are two games still left to be played before the area tournament starts next week.

The only thing Andrews said he is concerned about is “tempo.”

Pleasant Home’s game at Flomaton tonight has been canceled and won’t be made up. The Eagles host W.S. Neal tomorrow night for homecoming. Andalusia’s game at Brantley tonight has also been canceled, and the Bulldogs visit Opp tomorrow night. Straughn and Georgiana are working out a future date to play, if they can.