The NOVA women's basketball team receives seond place plaque at VCCS tournament. Photo by: Arch Scurlock

The NOVA women’s basketball team earned a second seed for the VCCS tournament by going 5-3 during the regular season and finished second in the March 4-6 tournament in Chesapeake, losing to Tidewater Community College Storm in the final, 57-47, on Sunday afternoon.

In its first game or semifinal against Southside Virginia Community College, played on Saturday afternoon, NOVA led the whole first half, with a lead as large as 12 at 25-13. Southside momentarily decreased the lead to five at 27-22 by scoring six straight points, but NOVA scored the last four points in the remaining three minutes to lead at the half 31-22. Elizabeth Ramirez paced NOVA with 10 points.

In the second half, Southside never seriously threatened as NOVA had a lead as high as 21 at 49-28. NOVA won 71-54, completing a three game sweep of Southside during the season.

“The girls came out to play today. They played well. They played together. I think the freshmen worked against them. We set ourselves for the game tomorrow. We gotta come out tomorrow and really play hard. To be champions we gotta beat the champions–Tidewater, four time champions,” remarked Coach Wayne Vincent after the game.

Kimberly Walton led NOVA with 18 points, 12 in the second half, followed by April Neal with 16, also 12 in the second half, and Ramirez with 12.

In the finals on Sunday, NOVA was pitted against Tidewater CC, the number one seed in the tournament and undefeated in the VCCS during the regular year (8-0).

NOVA came out in a zone defense to try to minimize the Tidewater strength around the basket and its drives to the basket, which was reasonably effective. Tidewater did not shoot well during the game and was forced into numerous turnovers as NOVA kept within striking distance, but Tidewater was still able to win.

NOVA only held the lead once in the game at 4-2, and Tidewater slowly increased its lead in the first half to as many as 11, at 25-14, before NOVA scored the last four for a 25-18 deficit, creating some optimism for the second half. Despite NOVA’s holding Tidewater reasonably well, Tidewater’s leading scorer Desiree Johnson still managed 11 points in the first half.

Tidewater scored the first six points of the second half as it opened up a 31-18 lead, which it kept much of the second half. NOVA was not shooting well and its offensive rebounding was almost non-existent for about the first ten minutes.

NOVA finally began rebounding and shooting better, and three straight points brought the deficit down to nine at 48-39 with just six minutes to go. Two points by Paris Cantrell and three by Lauren Amonett cut the lead to four at 48-44 with under three minutes to go, and NOVA was hopeful. Southside scored to make it 50-44, and NOVA then missed three shots in its next possession.

From there, Johnson scored five points to help Tidewater to the win 57-47 and the championship, its fifth straight. In the most recent two years, Tidewater had nipped NOVA in the semifinals and last year in the finals.

After the game, NOVA Coach Vincent remarked, “The girls did a fantastic effort. First half we came out a little slow. I think we had 15 turnovers and that killed us. Second half I think the girls came out with a little more urgency. We had a hard time getting the ball inside. That hurt as far as getting scoring opportunities.

Overall, I’m very proud of the girls. They played extremely hard. They had a fantastic season–in spite of all the injuries. Overall we had a great game. I’ve very proud of them…I look forward to coming back next year.”

For the game, NOVA only had two players in double figures. They were Neal and Ramirez, both with 12. Walton was held to only 6, as NOVA only shot about 30 percent in the second half. Johnson led Tidewater with 30 points, more than half their total

Individual honors for NOVA included the selection of Neal and Walton   to the all tournament team.

So ended the season for the NOVA women’s team. They started the season with all new players and by the semester break had lost four of the players for various reasons. For the second season, they added three new players plus a player from last year. The team had some rough games against strong opponents during the year, but wound up the season well by finishing second in the tournament. They were 9-17 overall for the year.I’m not sure about the season/year relationship here, but this paragraph doesn’t seem to make sense. They started the season, but are already on a new season? Started the year with all new players, perhaps?

By: Arch Scurlock

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