The Washington Post is at it again, spreading fake news that is. International Women’s Day was celebrated on March 8, and by March 10, sportswriters and editors at the newspaper have forgotten women are part, a large part, of the NCAA championship tournament referred to as March Madness. The UConn women are a 20-year dynasty and they play by the rules, no one-and-done in Storrs.
D.C. colleges will have a season without March Madness for the first time since 1978 https://t.co/fzDagaRq6x
— Post Sports (@PostSports) March 10, 2018
The Post either believes Maryland's women's basketball team is not a DC team or women's basketball is not part of March Madness.
What an enlightened opinion either way. The College Park campus is a few miles from the District line. UM men’s sports are treated as a hometown team. Maryland Olympic athletes are treated as home-towners. But the No. 17 ranked team in the NCAA is ignored in the drought era for Washington College Basketball.
Look at the brackets
It is not just Maryland. Navy, a team located less than 30 miles from DC, plays Washington-based American University for the Patriot Conference title, and an automatic bid in the field of 64 on March 11. That will be another local school in March Madness. DC-based George Washington punched its ticket to the tourney March 4 in a 64-49 thumping of St. Joseph’s in the Atlantic-10 final.
When local women leave high school and go to college, the Post turns its back on them. For example, former prep Post all-star Amanda Fioravanti (Good Counsel) was 6-9 from the floor against GW for a team-leading 12 points in what will probably be her last college game. The Colonials' Kelli Prange (Damascus) came off the bench and added 15 points and 5 caroms.
Prange was a Post All-Met selection in high school.
Some D.C.-area women won accolades from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference for their performance on the hardwood this season. Coppin State guard Genesis Lucas (Gwynn Park) and Bethune-Cookman’s Ashanti Hunt (Kipp) were named First Team All MEAC.
Check the map
Navy’s Taylor Dunham (Mt.
Vernon) and Kaila Clark (Archbishop Spalding) have outstanding careers. Dunham, a senior, was named All Patriot 1st Team this season after scoring 14.6 points per game. Clark, a sophomore, will likely set the league record for blocked shots before she leaves. She topped the conference with 62 this year. Clark also contributed 1.6 steals pg and 8.6 rebounds. Clark is on the all-defensive team.
If readers of the Post are women’s basketball fans, they just don’t get information. Howard, a historically black college and university in the heart of D.C., is also virtually ignored. However, if the University of Virginia (115 miles) or Virginia Tech (268 miles) men’s basketball or football teams play, hold the press.
