I’m sitting here at Morgan State’s Hill Field House watching Western’s No. 2 girls basketball team play Riverdale Baptist, The Washington Post’s No. 1 team.

The basketball is pretty good. The attendance is pretty bad. There might be 100 people here including the boys playing in the next game.

Which makes me wonder. Why is a game like this scheduled at 2 p.m.? Why not at 6 or 7:30 p.m. when more people could come?

Don’t tell me girls basketball won’t draw. When Western hosted the Breezy Bishop Showcase last month, the Doves used Poly’s gym for the biggest games because it has much more seating capacity. Good thing because Poly’s gym was packed when Western played No. 1 St. Frances. It was standing room only too for a game between two teams with no Baltimore connections, H.D. Woodson and Oak Hill Academy. That was a great showdown between two nationally-ranked teams and fans wanted to see it.

But those games were played at 7 and 9 p.m. respectively on a Saturday. More family and friends and players from other teams could come to those games. Not many of them can make it at 2 in the afternoon on a weekday.

And, even though Riverdale is winning 24-14 at halftime, this is a big game.

Western’s record doesn’t look that great at 6-5, but the Doves have played a much tougher schedule than any other local team. Riverdale Baptist is the fourth nationally-ranked team (No. 13 in USA Today) on their schedule and the Doves beat one of them -- Thomas Jefferson from New York. Three years ago, the Doves upset Riverdale at the Basketball Academy.

Local fans are familiar with Riverdale Baptist, from Upper Marlboro. The Crusaders have been to the Basketball Academy several times and they also often play St. Frances and Arundel (whom they meet later this season).

The Western-Riverdale Baptist game should be drawing quite a crowd, but it needed a prime time slot to do so. It deserved one.

-- Katherine Dunn