Updated to confirm Meadowdale vs. Kamiak game was canceled due to threats.

The first week of the local 2024-2025 high school girls basketball season has gotten off to a rocky start, hindered by a slew of game postponements reportedly caused by a lack of referees in the area to officiate the games, and — in the case of one school — online threats of violence.

Contests set to take place on Wednesday night, Dec. 4, involving the girls basketball teams from Meadowdale, Lynnwood and Mountlake Terrace high schools were all pulled off the schedule earlier in the day. The Mavericks were to have traveled to Kamiak for a clash against the Knights while Lynnwood and Mountlake Terrace were scheduled to host games against Jackson and Mariner respectively.

Emily Crum Smith, the Athletic Department Secretary at Mountlake Terrace High School, sent out an email early in the day on Wednesday that simply stated “no game tonight; no refs at MLT.”

The Kamiak vs. Meadowdale game was canceled due to threats of violence made against Kamiak earlier in the day. According to Mukilteo police spokesperson Nathan Fabia, police searched the school but nothing suspicious was located.

In addition to Wednesday night’s three games that didn’t take place, the Sedro-Woolley at Stanwood girls basketball game scheduled for earlier in the week — on Monday, Dec. 2 — was also postponed.

Edmonds School District Athletic Director Angie McGuire expressed hope that the current dilemma to get all local prep girls basketball games played as scheduled would not carry over beyond this week.

”I’m hoping this is just a ‘this week’ issue,” McGuire said on Wednesday. “The SCBBO (Snohomish County Basketball Officials Association) is going through a lot of struggles right now, but they have new assignors in place, so hopefully we will be good to go the rest of the season.”

For years now, local referee associations that provide officials for local high school sports have been calling on new recruits to join, get trained and start officiating in order to cover area basketball, football, volleyball and wrestling contests. While high school referees do get paid for their work in officiating games and matches, their ranks have dwindled over the past few years.

On nights when a large number of local contests are scheduled, it can be a challenge to find enough available officials to cover all the games. This past fall, a number of local high school volleyball matches had to be postponed and rescheduled due to a shortage of available officials.

On Wednesday, a total of 11 girls basketball games involving Wesco League teams were scheduled for the area; only eight were able to be played.

As of late Wednesday, the Meadowdale vs. Kamiak, Jackson vs. Lynnwood and Mariner vs. Mountlake Terrace girls basketball games that were postponed on Dec. 4 had yet to be rescheduled. If available dates are not found for rescheduling, the games are at risk of being canceled outright.

— By Doug Petrowski