The Bethesda-Chevy Chase girls’ basketball team has never reached a state final. And if the Barons want to make program history this week, they will have win a true road game — despite being the No. 1 seed in the Maryland Class 4A bracket.
Coach Ryan Ingalls said she “teared up” when she saw the schedule, which was released Sunday.
“I care so much about these girls and this group, and it feels like a disservice to them,” she said.
Though earlier rounds of the Maryland playoffs are contested at the higher seed’s gym, the semifinals and finals (which will be at Xfinity Center in College Park) are played at predetermined sites.
The Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association does not explicitly state that semifinal venues should be neutral sites in its 2023-24 handbook. It says it considers factors such as facility capacity, parking availability, travel distance for participating schools to minimize instructional loss and more.
The handbook, drafted before the season, listed six potential sites for state semifinal games: Blair, Thomas Johnson, Richard Montgomery, North Point, Paint Branch and Wise. Paint Branch and Richard Montgomery — both Montgomery County schools that are much closer to B-CC — are not being used for the state semifinals.
On Sunday, Rex Garcia-Hidalgo, president of the B-CC Sports Boosters, sent a letter to Lynette Mitzel, the director of the MPSSAA’s girls’ basketball committee, asking for a change in location.
The letter offered potential solutions such as moving the game to B-CC, Richard Montgomery or Paint Branch. Garcia-Hidalgo cited the unfairness of B-CC having to make a drive he estimates could take nearly two hours during rush hour.
“Of the 16 boys/girls basketball semifinal games, North Point is the only lower-seeded team to receive a game in its own county, let alone in its own gym!” the letter stated.
Officials from the MPSSAA, including Mitzel and tournament director Tiffany Byrd, did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The Washington Post.
Ingalls said the Barons will play the game at North Point, even if they’re aggravated by the setup.
The Barons, the No. 10 team in The Post’s latest rankings, are 25-2. They won the Montgomery County championship with a thrilling comeback and have rolled through the playoffs, winning their three games by a combined 56 points.
North Point, which is on The Post’s bubble, won the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference championship and is 22-5. The Eagles last made the state final in 2014.
“I’m just disappointed for the girls,” Ingalls said. “They’ve worked so hard this year. They’ve gotten so much better. They’ve grown so much, and the run that we’re going on is so special.”
