Darrell Moody: Sierra teams stronger than High Desert

Now that the holidays are over, boys and girls basketball teams in northern Nevada dive headfirst into league play.

After watching Carson play Hug and Spanish Springs, and taking in several games at the Rail City Classic, I think the Sierra is better than the High Desert so far, and people who thought Galena was a clear-cut favorite to defend its regional title, need to think again.

The Grizzlies are a good team, but they struggled and lost against two teams Carson beat at the Rail City, Placer and Dougherty Valley.

By no means does that make Carson the favorite because the Senators have issues at point guard that need to be cleaned up quickly.

Don’t forget about Bishop Manogue and Douglas. The Miners had a lot of seniors last year, but they are playing well. The Tigers? They are always competitive.

On the High Desert side, Spanish Springs and Reno look good thus far, and McQueen could be tough with the addition of the Corley brothers, who transferred from North Valleys.

Reed and Hug have new coaches, but both could challenge for the fourth playoff spot.

I look for Reno, Spanish Springs and McQueen to occupy the top three spots in the High Desert standings, though I’m not sure in what order.

My prediction for playoff teams in the Sierra League are Carson, Manogue, Douglas and Galena and again not in any particular order.

The semifinals and finals will be held this year at Spanish Springs. Nice gym, but not spectator friendly.

Most people would agree Carson’s gym is spectator friendly, and the Senators have always done a top-notch job of handling any regional or state event.

What the area needs is a neutral place to host the regional tournament every year.

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Carson High’s girls basketball team traveled to Tracy for a tournament last week, and had an off day on Sunday.

Instead of going back and forth on Saturday and then returning on Monday, coach Melissa Larsen opted to keep the team in Tracy for the entire four days.

On Sunday, the team took the Bay Area Rapid Transit system to San Francisco and spent the day in the city.

“A lot of the girls had never ridden BART,” Larsen said.

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Corey Reid made his collegiate indoor track debut recently, finishing seventh in a heptathlon at Colorado School of the Mines.

Reid finished with 4,731 points, 834 behind winner Justin Green. Reed was the second-best Azusa Pacfic finisher in the event.

Reid was 11th in the 60 meters (7.27), 10th in the long jump (6.36 meters), ninth in the shot put (10.95 meters), third in the high jump (1.94 meters), 10th in the 60 hurdles (9.06), sixth in the pole vault (3.75 meters), and sixth in 1,000 meters (2:56.16).