Coolidge Boys Hoping For Top Scorer's Return

After losing three games by a combined five points on three consecutive days in mid-January, the Coolidge boys were ready for last month to end. Now that it has, the Colts are hoping for some victories on and off the court.

The Colts are crossing their fingers in the hope that D.C. school officials will grant a waiver to allow guard Derrick Washington to play this season. Washington, the Colts' leading scorer last year, has been ruled ineligible this season by being in violation of the D.C. Interscholastic Athletic Association's eight-semester rule.

Coolidge Coach Vaughn Jones began lobbying for a waiver before the season started. He said that Washington should get one because, after playing his ninth-grade season at Francis Junior High, Washington did not go to school for a year following his mother's death. Washington then played the past two seasons at M.M. Washington and, last year, at Coolidge.

Jones said it is much like the situation involving H.D. Woodson's Jeniece Johnson, who was granted an exemption last month and returned to the lineup.

"We're hoping to hear something soon," Jones said, "but we're preparing to play without him. If we get him, then it's a bonus. I haven't given up on the kid. I know a lot of college coaches have been calling because they want to see the kid play."

They've Got Games

When Dunbar's girls' basketball team steps onto its home court tonight against Wilson, it will be the Crimson Tide's first game since Jan. 22. Some teams might relish a break, but Dunbar would have preferred playing every day.

The Crimson Tide girls are playing their best ball of the season, having won four straight heading into tonight, the last of which was a convincing 54-39 victory over Coolidge, giving Dunbar first place in the DCIAA West Division.

The biggest reason for Dunbar's surge? The Crimson Tide is actually playing games, which was the team's biggest obstacle the first two weeks of the season. After opening with a two-point loss to Ballou on Dec. 3, Dunbar played just one more game before its holiday tournament at Carroll, which began Dec. 26. Miscommunication caused the cancellation of games against Friendship Collegiate and Anacostia. Booker T. Washington scheduled to play a different opponent the day it was on Dunbar's docket. Eastern and McKinley simply refused to play, Crimson Tide Coach Jermaine Clark said.

"It really took a lot of air out of us," Clark said of the missed games. "Some girls thought about quitting because we weren't getting any games. But it also gave us an opportunity to work more with our younger players."

Since its schedule has steadied, Clark said, his team "is starting to hit our stride," thanks in large part to senior point guard Tamika Brown, who is averaging 17.5 points, 7 assists and 4 steals per game.

"We feed off of her," Clark said. "She's what makes us go."

Brown is also getting help with the maturation of sophomores Shaneka Gradison and Jamia Reid. In the victory over Coolidge, Reid had a season-high 21 points.

Major Matchups

There are two boys' games in the DCIAA tonight that should have a big effect on the final standings.

In the West Division, defending DCIAA champion Theodore Roosevelt will visit Coolidge. The Rough Riders won the teams' first meeting, 57-55, on Jan. 9, which started the Colts on a three-game losing streak. Since that skid, Coolidge has won three of four.

Roosevelt lost its leading scorer, Darin Drakeford, last week when he decided to enroll at Maryland for the spring semester. Drakeford, a football recruit for the Terrapins, left a big hole in the Roosvelt lineup, but senior Alfonzo Duckett showed he could pick up some of the slack. He scored a season-high 33 points in a 69-34 victory over Bell on Monday.

In the East Division, Ballou hosts McKinley. On Jan. 9, the Ballou Knights won, 51-49, despite nearly blowing a 16-point lead going into the fourth quarter. Although it's an important game for the Knights' regular-season hopes, the postseason has been where Ballou has come up short. The past two seasons, Ballou has won 23 of 24 league games and taken records of 23-4 and 22-4, respectively, into the DCIAA semifinals. But it has not been able to get through to the final.