NOVA's Kimberly Walton shoots a layup in a game against Montgomery Community College.

With no returning players from last year, six freshmen out of nine players and most of its early games on the road, this year’s women’s basketball team seemed likely to have a tough time during its early schedule. And so it has.

Its first two games saw Northern Virginia Community College having a tough time scoring. Opening against a strong Hagerstown CC team on Nov. 3, it lost 33-50. On Nov. 9, it again struggled as it lost 31-54 to Chesapeake College.

Playing in a tournament at Howard Community College, NOVA found a team to its liking, and it won its first game of the year, 64-58, on Nov. 12 against Howard CC. However, the next day, NOVA’s troubles reappeared as it got pounded by Prince George’s CC, 49-91.

Next, it journeyed on Nov. 17 to Montgomery CC-Rockville to play a good Knights team. During this game, NOVA seemed to be lacking in most basketball skills — playmaking, shooting, rebounding and keeping turnovers under control. NOVA was having an extremely hard time generating points and was down 5-24 after about 11 minutes had passed. Down 10-31, it did manage to score nine of the last 13 points of the half to close the gap to 19-34 at halftime.

The second half saw Montgomery make most of the shots it was missing in the first half, as it amassed 55 points and ran away from NOVA 89-42, more than doubling NOVA’s score. As a tired Coach Wayne Vincent stated after the game, “We came out flat. We’re young. We’re learning, we’re learning.”

For the game, April Neal led NOVA with 13 points while Kimberly Walton added 11.

The next Saturday, Nov. 20, saw NOVA travel to Baltimore to play the City Community College team, which held the prospect of providing a quick panacea for NOVA’s fortunes, as it had been winless in five games. That possibility indeed turned out to be the case as NOVA scored a resounding 48-33 win, leading 25-9 at the half, with sophomore Kimberly Walton having a super game with 19 points and 25 rebounds and Tiffany Somuah adding 8 points.

NOVA only made 25 percent of its two-point shots, 17 percent of its three-pointers and 57 percent of its free throws, but that was far better than Baltimore did. Also, NOVA out rebounded the other team 65-41. NOVA went to 2-4 with the win.

On Nov. 22, NOVA journeyed to LaPlata, Md., to play the College of Southern Maryland. It barely lost to a good CSM team, 67-70, at the buzzer to fall to 2-5 for the year while CSM improved to 4-2.

Hopefully, the continued coaching of Vincent and his staff and the increased familiarity of the team among its individual members will enable NOVA to become increasingly competitive as the season progresses and its Virginia Community College schedule begins in January.

NOVA’s home opener will be held on the Annandale campus Saturday, Dec. 18 at 7:30 p.m.

By: Arch Scurlock

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