From Staff Reports
CUMBERLAND — The 15th annual Bishop Walsh Girls Invitational Basketball Tournament gets under way Thursday at Bishop Walsh School, with the two top-ranked ranked teams in Baltimore and three ranked teams from the Washington area in this weekend’s eight-team field.
Thursday at 3:15 p.m., the tournament tips off when Bishop Walsh (5-21) of Cumberland plays host to Good Counsel of Wheaton (27-4), the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference champion ranked No. 5 in the Washington Post poll. At 4:45 p.m., Seton Keough (20-8), the top-ranked team in the Baltimore Sun poll, plays Georgetown Visitation (27-4), the No. 15 team in Washington.
At 6:15 p.m., Seton School (20-8) of Manassas, Va. will take on Elizabeth Seton (22-6), ranked No. 19 in Washington. The opening round will conclude at 8 p.m. when St. Frances (24-2) takes on the 13th-ranked team in Washington, Holy Cross (22-8) of Kensington.
The consolation and championship semifinals will be played Friday at 2:45, 4:15, 5:45 and 7:30 p.m., with the final round beginning at 1 p.m. on Saturday, with the championship game tipping off at 6:15 p.m.
Notre Dame, Virginia, successfully defended its BWGIT last season with a 62-41 win over McNamara.
Good Counsel was defeated Monday night in the D.C. City Championship game, 61-43, by H.D. Woodson, ending an 18-game winning streak. Good Counsel, which won City titles in 2005 and ’06 after going 10 years without an appearance in the game, has won at least 22 games in six straight seasons, and would match its winningest campaign with a victory on Thursday.
The Falcons defeated Holy Cross in the WCAC final, 56-44, as Katie Sheahin scored 20 points, including the first seven of the game, leading Good Counsel to its third conference championship in five years. Good Counsel has gone 155-37 over the past six seasons.
Georgetown Visitation went on a 21-2 run to start the second quarter of their Independent School League AA championship game with Flint Hill to come away with a 52-44 victory and its third straight title, extending its winning streak against ISL AA opponents to 47. Visitation (27-4) relied on its distinct height advantage — its starting five averages 5 feet 10 — to get second-chance points and win the game.
Freshman Maddy Williams led the Cubs with 12 points, including two three-pointers at the start of the fourth quarter, when Flint Hill had pulled to within five. Nicole Krusen had 10 points and six rebounds.
In the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference title game on Feb. 15, Seton Keough 6-4 center Asya Bussie scored 22 points and collected 14 rebounds to lead the Gators to a 58-38 win over heavily favored St. Frances, and to their first title since 2000, the league’s inaugural season. The Panthers were led by Tasia Bristow’s 11 points.
St. Frances entered the game ranked No. 1 in the Baltimore area and had won the IAAM title seven of the past eight years, and the past six.
