ROSEDALE, Md. — Ask any basketball player - high school or college - they want to be playing in the month of March. The games are bigger. The stakes are higher. For the girls of Rosedale Christian Academy it gets no greater than this weekend.
The Panthers are playing for the Mid-Atlantic Independent Athletic Conference championship. They host St. Maria Goretti on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. Rosedale enters the title tilt with a 20-10 record. They are the top seed and beat Takoma Academy on the way to the final.
The Panthers are coached by local radio personality Rob Long.
This is the inaugural tournament for the MAIAC, which is a new regional league that Long said gives his program more schedule flexibility and options to play elite competition.
To win the first MAIAC title would mean the world and prove the naysayers wrong.
"I’m really excited to play in the championship, especially with this team of girls," said guard Jaylah Speller. "I think we have been doubted a lot this year and we finally made it."
"It’s really exciting that we got to this point and I think that having it as a home game and having a lot of the people that support us here is really important for our team," added center London Harvey. "It would mean a lot for us to win this championship."
"This means everything to [the players]. I never saw them this amped up. I’ve never seen them this animated. They are very animated about it," said Long. "They are locked in. They are focused."
Rosedale won both of the regular season meetings with Goretti by six points in November and early February.
The Gaels will be extra motivated. This is Goretti's final game of its final season. The Hagerstown school is closing its doors at the end of the school year.
Follow Shawn Stepner on Twitter @StepnerWMAR and Facebook
