Scheduling error disqualifies Bishop O’Dowd from North Coast section playoffs

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Courtesy | Malik McCord

The 2014 Bishop O’Dowd’s women’s basketball team.

Leandra Galloway,
Game Reporter

Bishop O’Dowd’s women’s basketball team were state champions of the 2013 CIF Open Division last year. They play in an open division in the WACC-Foothill League and have been a powerhouse in Women’s High School Basketball. This season was no different with them finishing 23-4 overall, and 10-0 in league. They are always expected to make it to playoffs and to be a State Champion contender.

Unbeknownst to them there would be a fork in the road disqualifying them from advancing to the North Coast Section playoffs. Teams are  only allowed to play 26 regular season games. O’Dowd played one game over the limit, failing to report it as a scrimmage.

Of those 27 games, one should have been marked as a scrimmage in the schedule, but no one in the Athletic Department noticed the technicality until it was too late.  This minor mistake stopped them from defending their State Championship title this year. They are ranked 13th in the state of California and their National rank is 27.

In a recent press conference last month at the school, O’Dowd’s head coach, Malik McCord, stated his mistake jeopardized the position of his girls. He feels he has let the team down.

Bishop O’Dowd’s athletic department aims to schedule and play the top teams in California each year to challenge their level of play.

Section Commissioner Gil Lemmon stated the rule violation was noticed when NCS staff were reviewing postseason applications.

Many high school basketball fans were outraged by the harsh punishment the CIF implemented against the team. The rule is not stated in the rulebook, which draws upon much controversy. Despite the rule being unofficial, teams are expected to obey it.

The news about the team being disqualified reached the public fast. As seen on the team Facebook fan page Dragons Rise, “We Qualify. Check the Rules. Let them play.” This became the motto and hashtag on twitter, emphasizing the team deserved to be on the court to defend their title.

O’Dowd alumna Shanel Jones stated, “I think it’s really unfair, it was obviously a human mistake on the scheduling.”

This sparked media attention that the school and the players developed a petition on Change.org to convince the head of CIF staff Roger Blake to advance them to the first round of the NorCal Regional. Staff and students wore a blue ribbon in support of the “Dragon Rise Movement.”

Loren Lassiter, a senior on the team expressed her thoughts in a recent email about being disqualified.

“At first, I couldn’t believe it, it didn’t really register. I thought they were playing some type of terrible joke. After the shock, I was just devastated.”

The team has refused to go down without a fight. They reached out to 5,359 supporters in hope of keeping their basketball season alive. They would have to wait until the NorCal Regionals bracket was released to see if they were eligible to advance.

NCS ended on March 8. The Dragons had been anticipating the wait of getting into NorCal Regionals.

“It is unfortunate that the O’Dowd’s women’s basketball team worked really hard for a lifetime opportunity,” stated a spokesperson from Assemblyman Bill Quirk’s office.  He went on to mention that Assemblyman Quirk and a few other legislators wrote a letter of support to the team in their endeavors.

Unfortunately, for the three seniors on the team, their season will officially come to a devastating hault. The CIF showed no sympathy. The NorCal Regional bracket was released on March 9. The school’s name was absent from the bracket. Amongst the teams on the bracket were eight teams, including their defeater of last year’s state match-up, Saint Mary’s-Stockton.

“Our Senior girls didn’t get to finish their high school experience like they wanted to, and that’s a bummer,” said Principal Pam Shay.

On the other hand, the O’Dowd men’s team qualified for NorCal Regionals and made their way to state this past weekend at the Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento. They were determined last Saturday night to win a state title in honor of the women’s team. Unfortunately they fell short to 11-time state champion Mater Dei. The final score was 71-61.