How would I go about photographing a basketball game

[yaronm]

I am probably going to need to photograph a high-school basketball game in the near future (within the month) how would i go about doing it? would i try to get blur, or sharpness? would i try to take photos of crowd or just game? would i try to get as much in, or just one or two things?

my gear is a speed light
a canon rebel xsi
a 18-50mm lens
a 50-250 lens

[lputman]

A fast lens would be the best thing. I don't think either of the lenses you have will provide sufficient results. Gyms are usually awful for lighting. I shot with an 85 1.8 on my crop body. I would go to either the end and shoot from there or about three feet on the side from the end. You'll probably have to bump your ISO, again this depends on the gym lighting but I typically would have to go as high as 1600 on my XTi.