The Classic
The Mercy/Maryvale basketball game is continuing a time-honored Baltimore tradition of excellence in girls basketball.
The Classic
Friday, January 27, 2023
6:00 p.m. Doors | 7:00 p.m. Welcome | 7:30 p.m. Tip-Off
Towson University SECU Arena
More than 2,300 fans cheered on the Magic vs. Maryvale at The Classic. For the second year in a row, Mercy took home The Rita Sloan Berndt Memorial Trophy! What a fantastic showing by our Basketball program, Cheer team, and Pep Squad! Our Madrigals and Mezzos sang our Alma Mater, and joined with the Maryvale Performance Choir in leading the crowd in the National Anthem (check out the video here). Our student section was vibrant and practically bursting with school spirit. And to top it off, Mercy also won the Alumnae Giving Challenge with a record-breaking number of gifts from Mercy alumnae around the country! What a night! We look forward to facing Maryvale again in 2024!
Media Coverage of The Classic
Spirit Events
- Fathers' Club Game - Saturday, January 14, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. at Maryvale
- Alumnae Game - Saturday, January 14, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. at Maryvale
- JV Game - Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 4:15 p.m. at Mercy
- Alumnae Giving Challenge - Friday, January 20 to Friday, January 27 at noon
LET'S GO MAGIC!
The Mercy Magic and the Maryvale Lions meet each other on the basketball court in “The Classic,” which builds on a friendly 50-year rivalry between the two girls’ schools spanning multiple sports. The Classic is the culmination of a week of spirited activities between the two schools, including JV and alumnae games, pep rallies, and a fundraising challenge among each school’s graduates.
Alumnae of both schools make it a homecoming, and the athletes and coaches have a college-level athletic experience, playing in front of thousands of spectators on a university campus. The players follow in the footsteps of decades of athletes who are proud to represent their schools and be part of an athletic legacy in Baltimore.
This match-up has roots stretching to 1964, the first year Mercy High School competed against the former Seton High School in what became a three-year series at the Civic Center. In 1967, a new rivalry formed between Mercy and the Institute of Notre Dame. For 54 years, “The Big Game” between Mercy and IND was the largest girls’ athletic event in Maryland.
To honor the Institute of Notre Dame and its long history in building this tradition, the winner of The Classic is presented with The Rita Sloan Berndt Memorial Trophy. The trophy is named after a distinguished 1962 IND graduate who played varsity basketball at IND and became an accomplished neuroscientist and a community activist, wife, mother, and grandmother.
