This is the last full week of Bayside Conference basketball before postseason play begins, and for many teams, it offers valuable opportunities to put themselves on the right track before playoffs and finish their seasons on a high note. And for the four teams competing in this week’s Games of the Week, their Thursday night games could potentially have huge implications.
Stephen Decatur’s girls basketball team is chasing an undefeated season, and the Seahawks can close out their regular season unbeaten if they can defeat Parkside at home. And on the boys side, Thursday night will have a rematch between city rivals and the two top teams in the Bayside South, as they face off for the first time since they played one of the best games of the season in January. And the winners of each game are likely to represent the South in the Bayside Conference Championship game next week.
Here are this week’s boys and girls basketball Games of the Week:
Feb. 17 | 5 p.m.
The Stephen Decatur girls basketball team is still undefeated, standing as the only team in the Bayside Conference to not lose a game this season. And they can head into the postseason still unbeaten if they win their games this week.
That won’t be an easy task, though, as they face Parkside on Thursday night in a rematch of a high-scoring January matchup in which each team’s star player put points up in abundance. Decatur’s Nadia Bullock scored 34 points in the Seahawks win, while Parkside’s Amanda Ballard scored 41, almost single-handedly keeping the Rams in the game before they eventually lost by six. For the fans in attendance, hopefully part two of the season series will have similar fireworks.
Parkside hasn’t lost a game since they fell to Decatur, so the Rams will be making the trip to Berlin with a lot of momentum. And for Decatur, whether it be their earlier win over Parkside, their road win over Queen Anne’s or any of their other impressive victories on the season, they’ve seemed to have the answers to winning no matter who they’ve faced. Thursday should bring another exciting battle between these two top teams in the Bayside.
More: Parkside star Amanda Ballard relishing outstanding senior season
More: Pocomoke defeats Washington 74-63
Feb. 17 | 5:30 p.m.
The last time these two teams faced off in January it ended up being arguably the best game of the Bayside South season. Wi-Hi was unbeaten and looked like they were on their way to continuing their hot start to the season, up by as many as 15 points in the third quarter. But Bennett came storming back, led by Ja’Ron Smith and Jace Hudson, and ended up winning the game in overtime to give the Tribe their first loss of the year.
Neither team has lost a game since that matchup, with Bennett and Wi-Hi establishing themselves as the top two teams in the South and two of the best in the Bayside altogether. Before Thursday’s game, Bennett will host Stephen Decatur and travel to Washington, while Wi-Hi will also play Washington earlier in the week. If they each survive those games there is a chance that both the Tribe and the Clippers will head into Thursday’s matchup on prolonged winning streaks, with Bennett having not lost a game since December.
Wi-Hi probably hasn’t forgotten that loss, and will likely show up on their home court motivated to even the score. The Tribe are looking for their fourth straight Bayside Conference title, but another Bennett win could make the Clippers the new kings of the Bayside South for this year.
More games to watch: Pocomoke at Parkside (Girls Basketbal, Monday at 5 p.m.), Nandua at Stephen Decatur (Girls Basketball, Monday at 5 p.m.), Laurel at Delmar (Boys Basketball, Monday at 5:45 p.m.), Stephen Decatur at James M. Bennett (Boys Basketball, Tuesday at 6 p.m.), Stephen Decatur at Parkside (Boys Basketball, Thursday at 6 p.m.), ESIAC Basketball Championships (Semi-finals on Wednesday for Boys, Thursday for girls. Championship on Friday for Boys, Saturday for Girls. Teams and locations TBD)
