Girls’ basketball: Washington has to play better to advance

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The City Section Championship Division girls’ basketball playoffs did not have any major first-round gaffes. Only one lower seeded team pulled off a road victory as Monroe, seeded 10th, surprised Grant, seeded seventh.

Washington Coach Ricky Blackmon doesn’t want any more surprises when the second-seeded Generals host Monroe in Tuesday night’s quarterfinal.

‘I’m concerned about Monroe from the fact of what we did last year,’ said Blackmon, referring to the Generals’ surprising postseason run to the City title game and state playoffs. ‘We were in the same [underdog] position so I understand the thought process. The higher seed can’t think of the game as a cakewalk.’

But that’s how Washington treated its first-round game against 15th-seeded Birmingham. Blackmon said his team was lucky to escape with a 55-49 victory.

‘What’s different this year is we’re no longer the underdog. We have the target on us now,’ Blackmon said.

‘We did not deal well with that (against Birmingham). We thought we would breeze through it. I hope we escaped our bad game. I hope they realize they just can’t show up and win.’

-- Mike Terry