Reactions to a Venue Change for Basketball's State Champions, Another 1,000 Point Scorer in BCPS, and Updates from Track Championships!

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BOYS’ BASKETBALL 🏀

Just nine regular season boys basketball games remain on the calendar, all of which will take place this afternoon, February 23. Dulaney and Overlea remain at the top, despite a few losses between both of the two. Stay tuned to CSZ’s social media for basketball playoff brackets, which are scheduled for release on February 24 before the regional quarterfinals this coming Friday and Saturday.

Last week, it was announced that Overlea senior Korrie Foster scored his 1,000th career point in the Falcons’ first game against Towson in mid-January. Scroll down to read the story of how Foster scored the point, how his season has progressed and his and his team’s plans for the future, or click the link embedded!

Overlea senior Korrie Foster reached his 1,000th point in his team’s first game of the season against the Towson Generals! The milestone was passed in the second quarter of January 16th’s game, when Foster sank a mid-range shot from the elbow, growing what was already a double-digit lead. This case was different than the three others, as Foster explained he didn’t know in the moment that he reached this coveted threshold.

“We didn’t stop the game, I didn’t even know that it had happened. I wasn’t told until senior night against (Patapsco),” Foster said. The playmaker was honored before Overlea’s game against Patapsco on Feb. 9, where the Falcons went on to win by 40 points.

That blowout two weeks ago was emblematic of how Overlea’s entire season has played out. After dropping three of their first four games in December, with each of the three loses coming against out-of-county opponents, the Falcons soared towards the top of the county standings, with a 12-3 record as of the Patapsco game. With no more games left on their regular season schedule, the Falcons will go into the postseason in second place in BCPS with a 15-4 record.

Foster’s journey to the top of the stat sheet didn’t come easy. Despite being on varsity for all four years, he started off as a quieter player, with his voice truly growing throughout this season. “Freshman year, I wasn’t the main guy, but this year especially I’ve started to be more vocal and picking up my teammates,” he said.

Additionally, this is the first year that Foster has played the role of floor general. In past seasons, he has played as a shooting guard, averaging around 20 points per game. This season, as the point guard, MaxPreps shows that that average has increased by ten percent. With this increase and generally improved play, Foster said that, while he is unsure if he has any official offers, he certainly is garnering interest from Goucher College and St. Mary’s College of Maryland, as he explained in an interview.

As Korrie and his team prepare to begin the playoffs, with the regional quarterfinals slated to begin this Friday, he feels extremely confident. “I feel great and the team has felt great. We have lots of trust and a strong work ethic.” The highlight of the season was Overlea’s second game against Parkville, when, despite a six point deficit going into the final quarter, the team won by five.

Foster also has a lot of confidence in his teammates, especially juniors Daz’mir Giles, Malachi Knowles, and Justin Swanson, as well as his head coach Will Watts, as they will look to defend their high county ranking in the final few weeks of the season. His final message for the fans: “Just stay tuned.”

MPSSAA BASKETBALL UPDATE

In past seasons, the MPSSA State Basketball Championship was hosted in College Park at the University of Maryland’s Xfinity Center, but this year, it will be moving to Catonsville, to the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. CSZ reached out to basketball coaches throughout Maryland to get various opinions, and here is what coaches had to say!

MPSSAA shifted the venue for the 2026 boys and girls basketball state championships from the University of Maryland's Xfinity Center to the UMBC Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena.

The move, announced earlier this month, marks the first change in location for the boys' finals since they began at UMD facilities in 1947.

The boys' championships have historically been held at Ritchie Coliseum from 1947 to 1955, Cole Field House from 1956 to 2001, and the Xfinity Center since 2003. The girls' championships have bounced between venues, going from UMBC in 1993-2013 to Towson University's SECU Arena from 2014-19 and most recently to the Xfinity Center.

Whitman boys’ basketball coach Christopher Lun explained that the tradition of competing at the University of Maryland will take time to move past.

“Many of our past Whitman teams have such great memories in College Park,” Lun said.

The Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena has a capacity of 6,000, but only 5,000 seats are available for basketball games. The Xfinity Center had room for over 17,000 fans.

The new venue’s proximity could be the source of the change. In some counties, like Howard County, the average distance to the games decreased by over five miles. Pikesville basketball coach Michael Dukes appreciated the easier access and the potential for boosted attendance.

Other team coaches had mixed opinions on the sudden change to UMBC.

Towson girls’ basketball coach Eric Erhardt did not feel strongly about the change and offered a more ambivalent reaction.

“Obviously, the facilities aren’t quite as nice as Maryland; however, I’ve been to UMBC games and think the gym and atmosphere have always been good. The location is fairly easy to get to off the beltway. I prefer UMBC because of the proximity,” Erhardt said.

Peter Kenah, the coach for the Walt Whitman girls’ basketball team, saw his team go to both UMBC and UMD for the championships. He looked forward to fewer logistical restrictions from playing at UMD.

“I am a huge fan of the change…The smaller venue compared to the cavernous UMD is great…More intimate, more exciting,” Kenah said.

Kenah also wants to see the state semifinals come to UMBC instead of just the finals.

“That was the best rather than the model now. It made it really feel special to make the state final four,” Kenah said.

The MPSSAA basketball state championships will be held from March 12 to March 14.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD 🏃

Last week, BCPS teams participated in the MPSSAA Indoor Track and Field State Championships at the Prince George’s County Sports and Learning Complex. Several schools had athletes and squads take home gold, silver, and bronze medals in various events. Read below or click the embedded link to learn more!

Last week, the Prince George’s County Sports and Learning Complex hosted the MPSSA Indoor Track and Field State Championships! Over 150 teams and several hundred athletes competed in the sport’s final event. Baltimore County had no shortage of athletes make the state level podium. The following athletes placed in the top three for their event in their class!

1A/2A Boys Track Events: Pikesville’s Teddy Forbes IV set his season best in the 1A 800m, finishing in 2:05.75 which was good enough for second place. In the 1A 1600m, Ian Pawluczkowycz, a senior from Carver Center, set his personal best in his third place performance of 4:32.17. Ben Wheeler brought a silver medal to the Hereford Zone in the 2A 300m, finishing in 1:59.43. The story for this part was Hereford Sophomore Eli Aitken, who won gold in the 2A 800m and 1600m, while taking home silver in the 3200m. With two years left to compete at this level, the story of Aitken will certainly be one to watch. 

1A/2A Girls Track Events: Fareedah Egbebi, a junior from Western Tech, set her PR in the 1A 55m, taking home gold in 7.2 seconds. Egbebi, along with teammate freshman Chelsea Williams, were the top two finishers in the 1A 300m. Williams came in first in 41.41 seconds, while Egbebi finished nine tenths behind. Laylah Ensor brought Hereford a bronze medal, as the junior set her PR in the 2A 300m with 40.92 seconds. Carver distance runner Maren Blanks came in first in both the 1A 1600m and 3200m races, finishing in 5:22.26 and 12:17.37 for a pair of gold medals. Dempsey Nelson took bronze in the 2A 1600m, as the Hereford sophomore finished in 5:11.37. Nelson also came in third in the 3200m, finishing in 11:24.46. Pikesville junior Taleah Phillips set both her personal record and broke her own school record in the 55m hurdles, taking the state’s 1A gold medal in 8.61 seconds. 

3A/4A Boys Track Events: Bronte Morton won gold in both the 3A 55m dash and the 55m hurdles, finishing the first in 6.33 seconds and the second in 7.85. Both of these would serve as personal records from the Towson senior. Additionally, Overlea senior Davon Shell’s time of 6.40 seconds won him third place in the 3A 55 dash. Damon Ferguson Jr. finished the 3A 300m in 35.17 seconds, winning the Milford Mill senior second place. Kenwood junior Myles Venable took home two gold medals. He finished the 4A 55m dash in 6.34 seconds and the 300m in 34.32, with the first being a personal record. The only other 4A medalist was Dulaney senior Jai Nettles, who set his personal best of 7.60 seconds in the 55m hurdles, wining him silver. 

3A/4A Girls Track Events: Samantha Amauwa, a junior from Franklin, and Aubree Lilly, a senior from Towson, were separated by just one hundredth of a second for the top two spots in the 3A 55m. In the 4A version of the same race, Woodlawn took all three top spots, with senior Destiny Coleman in first, sophomore Za’nyi Robinson in second, and senior Anjela Fitzhugh in third. Aubree Lilly did make up for the close silver medal finish, as she took gold in the 3A 300m with a time of 39.91. Destiny Coleman also took gold in the 4A run, with a time of 39.22 seconds. Finally, Coleman won gold medal number three in the 55m hurdles, finishing in 7.9 seconds.

Boys Relay Events: New Town and Milford took home the top two spots in the 3A 4x200, with times of 1:30.51 and 1:31.79 respectively. Milford’s squad also took the silver medal in the 3A 4x400, finishing in 3:25.33. In the 2A 4x400, Randallstown’s team won gold

Girls Relay Events: Hereford had a clean sweep of podium positions in the 4x200m, 4x400m, and 4x800m. The Bulls took silver in the 200m, finishing in 1:45.9, and in the 400m, with a time of 4:06.36. Additionally, the northernmost team in the county took third in the 800, finishing five seconds shy of ten minutes. Meanwhile, in the 1A, Western Tech won silver in the 4x200m, 1:48.13, and gold in the 4x400m, with their record time of 4:14.96. Lastly, the Woodlawn Warriors 4x800m group brought home another medal, this one silver in just under four minutes. 

Boys Field Events: John Jachens, a junior from Catonsville, won the 3A shot put, throwing 52 feet 8 inches on his fifth throw, which was the final that counted. Jeremiah Dailey threw his personal best of 50 feet 8.25 inches, which was good enough for the Dulaney senior to take bronze in the 4A shoot put. In the 1A high jump, Carver’s Benjamin Arneklev tied for second place, with his highest successful attempt being six feet and two inches. In the 2A, Sincere Noble from Sparrows Point tied for third with a max of six feet even.

Girls Field Events: Four Baltimore County athletes took home a medal in the field’s three events. Kimani Dennis, a senior from Dulaney, set her PR and won the 4A shot put with a max distance of 38 feet 10 inches. Lily An from Western Tech took silver in the 1A high jump with with a 5 foot 4 inch leap, while Hereford’s Eliza Fox achieved for silver in the 2A event, getting up to 5 feet 2 inches. Lastly, fellow Bull Maddie Drylie tied for the gold medal in the 2A Pole Vault, scaling the bar at 11 feet. 

GIRLS’ BASKETBALL 🏀

As of now, the Towson Generals remain at the top of the BCPS Standings, holding an 18-1 overall record, but tomorrow, they will play Baltimore County’s final game of the week, as they host the 16-1 Perry Hall Gators. Will Towson hold off Perry Hall to keep the county’s top spot, or will the Gators, with a 17-1 record, take over at the last second. Stay tuned to CSZ’s social media for basketball playoff brackets, which are scheduled for release on February 24 before the regional quarterfinals this coming Friday and Saturday.

CHEERLEADING 📣

Last week, MPSSC hosted the state cheerleading championships at Howard Community College. Congratulations to two BCPS schools who had a spot on the podium! Sparrows Point placed third in the 1A with a score of 110.45, and Perry Hall finished third in 4A with a 114.1. Additionally, congratulations to Eastern Tech, Franklin, and Hereford for all reaching the sport’s farthest competition. We can't wait for cheerleading to kick off again next fall!

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