NOVA's Kasee Hilliard shoots a jump shot over a defending Howard CC player in NOVA's December 7 59-28 win at Annandale. Photo by Kama Storie.

Arch Scurlock

Sports Columnist

The Northern Virginia Community College women’s basketball team led almost the entire game on Dec. 7 at Annandale, easily defeating the Howard Community College Dragons of Columbia, Md., and more than doubling their score.

After Howard tied the score 5-5 early in the first half, it was all NOVA. They led 32-14 at the half, and the six-player squad kept up its strong play in the second half, winning 59-28.

NOVA’s tenacious defense forced many Howard turnovers, and Howard’s poor shooting sealed their loss. NOVA had three players in double figures, led by Carlie Zirkle (Marshall High School) with 18, along with Kasee Hilliard (Garfield HS) and Paris Cantrell (Freedom HS), both with 10. NOVA’s Halley Cummins (Oakton HS) made three 3-pointers for 9 points.

With the win, NOVA evened its season record at 4-4. Howard’s tough season continued as they fell to 1-7.

Coach Wayne Vincent commented after the game, “It’s tough to play with only six girls. They continue to work hard. They played with a lot of heart.”

NOVA closes out its first semester schedule with home games on Dec. 16 and 20.

The 2011-12 team’s original roster included five freshman and four sophomores, but only one player from last year’s team: Paris Cantrell. Two of the freshmen, Yvette Gilliom and Kasee Hilliard, attended Garfield High School.

The third-year coach is Wayne Vincent, who is continuing to work with assistant coach Shawn Blow and new assistant Lindsay Kyle.

NOVA had nine players available for its first four games, but then the active squad dwindled for various reasons to six players for the rest of the season. The coach is expecting to add several players in the winter semester.

The season began on Nov. 2 at Hagerstown Community College where NOVA absorbed a 51-66 loss, after being down 38-17 at halftime. Lashonntae Hewitt (Edison HS) had a big game with 19 points. Next up was a trip on Nov. 4 to Baltimore where NOVA lost a close one, 64-61, to the Community College of Baltimore County-Dundalk in overtime. Zirkle led NOVA with 17.

Next on the travel list was a trip to the Howard Community College Tournament in Columbia on Nov. 12 and 13. There the visit was much more enjoyable as NOVA won its first game of the year, 45-39 over Essex County (N.J.) Community College, with Gilliom scoring 15.

Then NOVA bombed Globe Tech (N.Y.) 51-33 the next day to even their record at 2-2 as they featured balanced scoring.

The first home game saw the College of Southern Maryland visit Annandale on Nov. 17. NOVA won easily 80-56, after taking a 45-29 halftime lead. Cantrell poured in 19 points with Zirkle adding 15. NOVA thus finished November with a winning 3-2 record.

December’s first action occurred at home on Dec. 2 versus Frederick Community College.

NOVA had only six players for the game, so Coach Vincent would rotate in a new player every few minutes, giving each player a hard workout. By halftime, CSM was the team having trouble, down 28-19. They were saved only by the play of sub Destinee Jernigan, who scored 11 of their 19 points. For NOVA, Zirkle matched Jernigan’s 11 points, which included her first two 3-pointers of the year.

The beginning of the second half saw CSM suddenly find the basket as two quick scores cut the NOVA advantage to 5. NOVA took the lead back to 9, but that was their greatest lead. With about 10 minutes to go, CSM had trimmed the lead to 33-30.

Finally, with about six minutes to go, CSM tied the score at 37-all. NOVA was having a hard time scoring points.

Despite repeated NOVA timeouts, NOVA still looked confused as the offense seemed to be playing helter-skelter. It wasn’t that the NOVA players weren’t trying their hardest. Poor shots were taken, the ball was stolen and, when NOVA did have a clear shot, the ball did not drop through the hoop. It looked like they would never score.

Zirkle finally did make two free throws and Gilliom one with about three minutes to go to give NOVA their last lead at 40-38. CSM then tied it at 40-40 at 2:20. Thoughts were then directed to the fact that CSM had lost three games by a total of four points. Would that hurt or help them in this close game?

It turned out that this game did not stay close for long. CSM scored one basket, then another after a steal. After that, began a series of seven straight free throws by CSM, leading to more points. NOVA was just not scoring. Then, NOVA called a timeout when they had none left, leading to a technical foul and two of the seven free throws made by CSM.

NOVA lost 51-40, outscored in the second half 32-12. Zirkle led NOVA with 14 points.

After the game, Coach Vincent remarked, “I knew before the game that two of our players were not going to make it. We gave it a good try, and we played our hearts out. We just ran out of gas. I’m awfully proud of the team.”

The next game did not provide a breather for NOVA as they journeyed over to Rockville to play the always strong Montgomery College-Rockville team on Dec. 4. NOVA went home with a lopsided defeat 77-48.

NOVA's Paris Cantrell shoots a short shot over a Howard CC player and appears to have been fouled in NOVA's December 7 59-28 win at Annandale. Photo by Kama Storie.

NOVA's Tori Woods-Lewis barely gets her shot over leaping Howard CC player in NOVA's 59-28 win on December 7 at Annandale. Photo by Kama Storie.

By: Arch Scurlock

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