Antelope Valley Playing Short-Handed, Red-Faced

Depth, or lack thereof, has posed an unlikely and embarrassing problem this season for the Antelope Valley High basketball team.

Who would have figured? The Antelopes entered the season as defending Golden League champions with three returning starters, two returnees moving to starting roles and a bench full of promising players.

“I said at the beginning of the year that our strength is our depth,� Coach Skip Adams said. “I guess we’ve had to prove it.�

And under trying circumstances.

Last week, four players were found guilty in Juvenile Court of misdemeanor assault after an on-campus incident in December in which they demanded money from four fellow students. The players await sentencing Feb. 28.

While the four, all reserves, were suspended indefinitely from school, six players, primarily, have carried the team to first place.

But the loss of the players, three of whom are juniors, has taxed the team’s intensity--and its coach’s emotions.

“It’s a source of embarrassment for me, our team, our school and our community,� Adams said. “It has affected me, not from a coaching standpoint, but from the standpoint that I feel bad for the players and their families.

“But I respect and support the decision of our administration and I will support any decision our school board makes.�

The Antelope Valley Union High School District will determine the players’ status at a meeting sometime in February, Adams said. If the students are allowed back in school, Adams will accept them back on the team, he said.