The Potomac Highlands Dispatch - the online newspaper

First-round playoff match-ups
* Print your bracket here

By Kevin Spradlin
The Potomac Highlands Dispatch
COLUMBIA, Feb. 20 -- The MPSSAA conducted the draw for positions in all sixteen region tournament brackets for Girls' Basketball on Sunday at Long Reach High School in Howard County.

The top four teams in each region were seeded and the remaining competitors were put into the open draw to create the pairings.

First Round region games are slated for Friday, Feb. 25 unless noted otherwise on the brackets.

The Quarterfinal Round is scheduled to follow on Monday, Feb. 28 with the Semifinals on Wednesday, March 2 and the Finals on Friday, March 4. Game times are customarily 7 p.m. on weeknights and anytime after 12 noon on Saturdays.

Please verify game sites and times with the designated home school as other school activities or inclement weather may impact this schedule.

Game times are customarily 7 p.m. on weeknights and anytime after 12 noon on Saturdays. Please verify game sites and times with the designated home school as other school activities or inclement weather may impact this schedule.

Locally, there are two intriguing first-round match-ups.

No. 7 Northern Garrett at No. 2 Allegany
Both teams are seeded well here based on season records. But Huskies coach Chris Elliott has left several games this season scratching his head, wondering "what if?"

After losses to Southern Garrett and then Keyser - the latter is the current No. 1 in the PhDispatch.com Power Rankings and the Rams have also spent time in the top spot this season - it seemed the Campers were headed in the wrong direction.

Then they took on the upset kings - Mountain Ridge - and flat out beat them. It seems the Campers have reclaimed their swagger and just the right time. Last year was a nearly perfect one for Allegany.

There's little reason to think this one can't be special, too - except for a Northern Garrett squad chomping at the bit for a chance to prove they're better than they're record reflects.

If any game has a shot at a first-round upset, it's this one. The Huskies match up well with the Campers on the inside - Allegany's Aaron Murphy to Northern's duo of Cody Humberson and Austin Doerr. As for perimeter shooting, Tylor Jessie and Jake Shade can trade 3-pointers all night with the Huskies' Matt Gibson, who just happens to lead the area in scoring.

Speaking of Gibson - his scoring has, in fact, dropped off a bit in the latter part of the season. But Elliott thinks his team might be even better because of it.

While this game has all the makings of an upset special ...

PhDispatch.com pick: Campers, 67-58.

No. 6 Mountain Ridge (7-14) at No. 3 Fort Hill
This might be a game in which the powers-that-be at the MPSSAA got it wrong. And it's just as likely that Miners coach Dave Hobel is not happy about being seeded three spots lower than a team they beat once by 11 points and lost to by a single point to start the season.

After all, it was the Miners - not the Sentinels - who beat three former No. 1s - Southern Garrett (once when No. 1, once at No. 2) and Bishop Walsh (a former No. 1).

Enough coaches have told PhDispatch.com during the season that the goal of 22 exhibition games are to get better. Mountain Ridge, its loss last week to Allegany not withstanding, has done just that. Fort Hill, it seems, was swept by Northern Garrett (as were the Miners, by the way) and appear to have remained stagnant.

Mountain Ridge was limited to a mere 28 points in a 23-point loss - at home - against Northern Garrett this week. But led by Tyler Whitaker, the Miners still played great defense until the fourth quarter. Coupled with bad shooting and a 21-point outburst by the Huskies late in the game at a time the Miners scored just 3 - THREE - points.

It's unlikely the Miners are going to have as bad a night - ever again - shooting from the floor as they did at home against the Huskies.

But Fort Hill has beaten the Miners in Cumberland once already this season. There's little to say they can't do it again.

PhDispatch.com pick: Mountain Ridge, 48-39

Huskies coach says team is looking forward to Allegany

By Kevin Spradlin
The Potomac Highlands Dispatch
MOUNT SAVAGE, Feb. 20 -- For the first time in school history, the Northern Garrett boys basketball team swept the regular season home-and-away tandem with Fort Hill.

For the first time in the four years of Mountain Ridge's existence, the Huskies beat them twice, too.

"A third time could be a task," said Northern coach Chris Elliott, who said his team is satisfied with the No. 7 seed in the Maryland Class 1A West Region and a first-round draw for a road game at Allegany.

"I'm glad we get Allegany again," Elliott said. "The guys want to be someone who has beaten us to get where we need to go. We're going to be on the road the entire way to the western section finals - if we get past Allegany."

The Campers played at home to open the season against Northern and won, 87-82. Allegany had what turned out to be an insurmountable lead that night. But the Huskies scored 39 points in the third quarter.

Elliott says that - and his team's all-around improvement this season - are reasons to hope Northern can pull off the upset. If that can happen, they'll be led by standout senior point guard Matt Gibson, who leads the area in scoring.

"Matt's scoring has dropped," Elliott said. "But everybody else's has picked up.

In a 23-point over Mountain Ridge this week, Gibson scored just 15 points - below the 22.6 points per game he's been averaging. But Gibson led the team that night in rebounds and assists.