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."