South Lake Tahoe sports roundup: On the snow and on the court

South Tahoe High and Whittell High athletes have seen wins this week, both on the court and on the slopes and South Lake Tahoe's Maddie Bowman is at Mammoth Mountain today for the first stop for the FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup 2016.

South Tahoe High's varsity basketball teams won Wednesday night in Sparks. The boys beat the Railroaders 77-63 while the girls handled their opponent, winning the game by a score of 54-34.

The Vikings boys' team is currently in fourth place in their division. Next up is a home weekend series, Friday against Spring Creek (7:30 p.m.) and Saturday (2:30 p.m.) against first place Elko. The Vikings girls' team is also in fourth place in the league. They play Spring Creek on Friday at 6:00 p.m. and Elko on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.

The Whittell Warrior boys' basketball team picked up right where they left off last season and lead their league with a 5-0 record. They beat Pershing County on Tuesday, 61-46. Their next game is Saturday night with a 7:30 p.m. when they host Virginia City.

On the girl's side, the Warriors are 2-4 overall. In their last game they beat Sage Ridge 55-28 and face off against the same team today, Thursday, at Whittell. Game time is 4:00 p.m.

High school alpine racing is in full swing and the January 14 race at Alpine Meadows saw south shore skiers on the podium. The South Tahoe High girls' varsity racing team brought home a first place finish and the boys' team came in second, with a combined overall race first place tie with Truckee for the South Tahoe Vikings.

The Whittell Warriors boys' team brought home a third place finish, and combined with a fourth place finish by the girls' team, ended up fourth overall.

The seven teams field also included Truckee, Incline, Douglas, North Tahoe and Carson High Schools.

Top finishers from South Tahoe and Whittell High Schools:

Girls
STHS - Tatum Whatford, 2nd place
STHS - Rose McDonough, 5th place
STHS - Lyndsey Allen, 9th place
STHS - Sierra Bedwell, 10th place
WHS - Kate Krolicki, 16th place
WHS - Cameron Ceglia, 28th place
WHS - Angelina Stetler, 30th place
WHS - Lilly Johnson, 32nd place

Boys
WHS - Payton Norton, 1st place
STHS - Alec Jobbins, 6th place
STHS - Tristan Deatherage, 7th place
WHS - Gunnar Barnwell, 9th place
STHS - Luke Allen, 12th place
STHS - Logan Langnmeir, 13th place
WHS - Matt Davis, 21st place
WHS - Kevin Peck, 23rd place

Maddie Bowman joins fellow Americans Kimmy Sharp, Annalisa Drew, Allison Welch, Paula Cooper, Zyre Austin, Jeanee Crane-Mauzy, Devin Logan, Abigale Hansen, Carly Margulies and Sierra Bowman are part of the field of 28 competing in the Ladies' Ski Halfpipe, starting at 10:35 a.m. Thursday. The finals are on Saturday.

The 2016 XGames start in Aspen on January 28. Invited to participate are local Olympians Jamie Anderson, Hannah Teter and Bowman. Anderson is recovering from her first surgery in her career after breaking her collarbone in five places. She's been training in Switzerland this week.