High SchoolWeird But True

An Arkansas High School Girls Basketball Team Shut Out Its Opponent 88-0

The disparity in talent within the realm of high school sports can be huge sometimes, and that leads to lopsided scores and accusations of one team running up the score on another. For coaches it’s a difficult situation – allowing your team to win by 80 points seems largely unnecessary, but demanding that your team stops trying is embarrassing in its own right.

That’s what makes this girls high school basketball game particularly outrageous, besides the whole shutout thing. Though the Hall High School girls basketball team in Little Rock, Arkansas, manhandled Fair High School 88-0 earlier this week, they really did make an effort to stop. After four minutes, the team led 28-0, at which point the starters were pulled. Throughout the game, there were no full-court presses applied and no pressure defense. Just one team trouncing another as everyone cringed in embarrassment.

They should really have a mercy rule in place for situations like these. By the end of the first half, the score was 58-0. Was a second half really necessary at that point? And how did LR Fair High School not even manage a single mercy layup? A free throw? A lucky hurl of the basketball? You’d think the Hall players would, at the very least, afford them at least one legitimate opportunity for points. Even so, you pretty much have to make a conscious effort not to score to be shut out in basketball. Even Joakim Noah hits the occasional jumper.

[Today's THV]

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