The Bowie High girls' team was eagerly anticipating a matchup against defending 4A South Region champion Henry A. Wise, which was to have been played Tuesday. Led by Lafayette College (Pa.) recruit Linnel Macklin (22.9 points per game) the Bulldogs have amassed a 10-1 record, including 7-0 in the County 4A League.

Most of Tuesday's games will be made up on Jan. 27, but Bowie already had a makeup date slated for that night against Eleanor Roosevelt. So the Bulldogs will meet Wise the following week at a date and time to be determined.

"You have to know that there are going to be weeks like this one during the winter," said Bowie coach Michael Hines. "As a coach, you know that some weeks you'll have three games and you'll be playing back-to-back nights. When that happens, you lose some practice time but so do [your opponents]. You still have time to work on the things you need to fix and you need to stay healthy when you start playing three games in a week, and fortunately for us, knock on wood, we have."

Forestville's girls' team was scheduled to play host to Potomac on Tuesday, but that game will have to wait for at least two weeks because the Knights (5-3) are already booked for Jan. 27, when they will play a non-league game against Wakefield (Va.). Forestville, the Class 1A South Region runner up last year, has suffered losses to Largo and Gwynn Park, both state title contenders in Class 3A and 2A, respectively. The Knights also have a loss this season against 1A South Region rival Surrattsville. The Knights are led by Zairra Harris (22 points, 12 rebounds per game) and London Richardson (19.9 points, 10.5 rebounds).

"We still need to work on our free throw shooting and our defensive intensity," said Forestville coach Vincent McDuffie. "Right now we know where we stand in the county, so want to be up with Largo, Gwynn Park and Surrattsville. We were hoping to be the top seed in the [1A South] region, but we're just hoping to split with those teams."

Gwynn Park boys' coach Mike Glick said his team will be without guard Eric Batts for the remainder of the season after Batts suffered torn knee ligaments. Playing a rigorous non-league schedule, the Yellow Jackets have gone 6-5 overall, but are 5-2 in the County 3A/2A/1A League.

Glick is confident Gwynn Park can attain its goal of winning another 2A South Region title and returning to the 2A state title game. Brandon Ford (17.5 ppg) and Tion Barnes (12.6 ppg) have carried the scoring load for the Yellow Jackets through the first half of the season and will likely have greater chores in the second run through the league schedule.

"In my 18 years of coaching high school basketball, you have to be ready to make quick changes because you're going to lose games here and there to weather," Glick said, alluding to last winter, when the area had nearly 3 feet of snow in early February that wiped out several game nights. "Last year was probably the worst one since 1997-98, but this year hasn't been that bad. We kind of expected to miss games last Tuesday and this Tuesday, so we pushed them hard in practice on Monday figuring that we wouldn't be back in the gym for a few days. I think the kids are pretty resilient. They won't mind playing back-to-back nights. They probably prefer playing to practicing."

Among the other top contenders in the County 3A/2A/1A League, Largo has rolled through the first half of the season, going 9-2 overall and 7-0 in the league. Coach Lewis Howard's team owns a 92-84 overtime victory against Gwynn Park, and will be in action tonight against Friendly, which is tied for third in the league. The Lions then have a makeup date Feb. 3 against Surrattsville, with whom they are currently tied for the top spot in the league standings.

Largo is led by Chevon Giles (17.8 ppg) and Derrick Colter (17.5 ppg).

"It gets to be a little bit fun," said Howard, whose team will host a non-league game against defending Class 2A state champion City College of Baltimore on Monday. "It's like having an NBA schedule. We'll have a whirlwind schedule. We have eight games in the next 14 days. It's challenging, but you have to work harder. Then you have to go out and perform the best way you can."

This season, the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference began using a 35-second shot clock for boys' basketball. Girls' basketball games in the private school league use a 30-second shot clock.

"I love it," said DeMatha High coach Mike Jones said. "[The WCAC] is supposed to be one of the best conferences in the country, and if we pride ourselves on preparing players for the next level, having a shot clock in high school certainly helps us in that process."

Eight states currently mandate the use of the shot clock in high school games. It's used for girls' games in Washington and for both boys' and girls' games in New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, North Dakota, South Dakota and California. For more than a decade, girls' public school games in Maryland have used a 30-second shot clock.

The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), the national governing body of high school sports, votes each year on whether to institute the shot clock in every state. NFHS Assistant Director and basketball liaison Mary Struckhoff said more and more high school administrators have opened up to the idea of using a shot clock.

"It's always up for debate," Struckhoff said. "I've been here going on 12 years and it's been discussed every year. I think it's safe to say its gaining momentum."

Jones contends that the shot clock forces players to do more thinking, which helps in player development. He also said the shot clock is helpful because with the clock counting down, players know they have to exert their energy on defense for finite spans of time.

But Prince George's County Schools Director of Athletics Earl Hawkins is an opponent of the shot clock at the high school level.

"I still don't like it, absolutely not," said Hawkins, who played and coached basketball at both the high school and college levels before taking his current post in 2002. "I think the game should be about teaching and giving coaches the ability to use different strategies to win a game. The shot clock favors teams that have big men that can rebound. Teams without big players would be at a disadvantage. I just don't think it's right for that age group."

Hawkins says teams with smaller lineups would be forced to rush possessions to take shots to beat the clock. If their hurried attempts fail, he said, smaller teams would have little chance at grabbing enough rebounds to stay competitive against opponents with bigger lineups.

Gwynn Park High boys' coach Mike Glick used to agree with Hawkins' stance.

"I don't change my opinions on a lot of things, but I definitely think we need to go to a nation-wide shot clock," Glick said. "At every other level they play basketball there's a shot clock. Not using a shot clock is archaic. I think that the style of the game has changed. I think a coach with an inferior team can still find a way to keep itself in the game with a shot clock in use."

It's not uncommon to hear complaints in the stands when a team decides to use stall tactics, holding the ball for long stretches instead of taking a shot and risking a loss of possession. Even Glick, who coached at St. Vincent Pallotti when the Laurel school was in the WCAC in the 1990s, said he tried to stall in a championship game against DeMatha in 1998.

WCAC players don't seem to have much of a problem with the shot clock.

"It's not that big of an adjustment," said Bishop McNamara senior guard Marcus Thornton. "I think it actually helps defensively so teams can't hold the ball for too long."

"The adjustment hasn't been that big of a deal," echoed DeMatha junior guard James Robinson. "We've been practicing with it through the whole offseason. It affects the game differently, but I know for DeMatha we've found the right coaching strategy and formula to succeed with the shot clock."

Forestville High boys' coach Irvin Hay said he doesn't think the skill level among county public schools players is conducive for using a shot clock.

"You have to look at the level of play in your league," Hay said. "When you can recruit and get the athletes you want, it might be OK. But we're trying to develop our kids. Kids think that as soon as you get the ball in your hand, you have to shoot it. A shot clock would put pressure on some of the kids."

But opponents of a shot clock shouldn't fret too much, as there is no definite timeline for implementation, according to Struckhoff.

"It's a touchy situation right now," she said. "Because of the economic climate we're in, it doesn't bode too well for making it a national rule. With schools cutting programs and spending, we would be hard-pressed to require a rule change to require new equipment and personnel and to operate. The states that have it like it. Kids and fans like it because it adds excitement. I think the interest is increasing rather than waning."

Riverdale Baptist (12-5) spent Tuesday and Wednesday splitting the squad between the two tournaments, but on Thursday the Crusaders had a full complement of players for both games. Despite having already played a game and taken an hour-long bus ride, the Crusaders outscored Gwynn Park in each quarter. They raced to a 17-5 lead late in the first quarter, saw the Yellow Jackets get within three points on three different occasions in the second quarter then opened a 29-20 lead at the intermission. Riverdale Baptist held a 12-point lead after three quarters and led by as many as 19 points in the final period.

"We played against a very good O'Connell team and then got on the bus and came here to play," said Riverdale Baptist coach Lou Wilson. "We had all of our guys here, which really helped, and our guards shot the ball well. It was a good experience for these guys. This is one of the best tournaments in the state and it can only help us get better. We'll see O'Connell again next Saturday [Jan. 8] at our place and I know that should be a great game."

For the second night in a row, Gwynn Park (4-4) was held to exactly 46 points and suffered its second consecutive loss. As they did in a semifinal loss to Wise on Wednesday, the Yellow Jackets faced a zone defense that dared their guards to shoot from the perimeter, and the Crusaders were never enticed out of it.

"We probably played the entire tournament without seeing one possession of man-to-man defense," said Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick. "So we have to work on our zone offense. We're going to have to hit those outside shots. This whole week will only help us get better. We had the chance to play some good teams and even though we lost the last two games we'll bounce back from it. Everyone is 0-0 when you get to March."

Riverdale Baptist 63, Gwynn Park 46

Gwynn Park 8 10 15 13 -- 46

Riverdale Baptist 17 12 16 18 -- 63

Gwynn Park (4-4): Tion Barnes 5, Eric Batts 2, Brandon Ford 19, Brian Hall 9, Jarvis Hawkins 2, Kevin Miller 4, Nick Walton 5.

Riverdale Baptist (12-5): Norman Allen 3, Quinton Dodson 4, Milan Durant 7, Keon Hill 10, Robel Hurui 2, Olajuwon Lewis 12, Delvin Mulbah 3, Brandon Peel 4, Chris Scott 3, Jerome Tolson 15