By Arch Scurlock
Sports Columnist

The Northern Virginia Community College women’s basketball team played two consecutive especially exciting and close games on Dec. 16 and Dec. 20 at the Annandale campus. Both scores were remarkably similar, with NOVA winning the first but losing the second.

In the first game, NOVA (4-4) played the Community College of Baltimore County-Dundalk (6-3) on the evening of Dec. 16. NOVA had earlier narrowly lost to Dundalk on Nov. 4, 64-61. For this game, NOVA had the luxury of seven players in uniform.

A strong defensive effort fueled a strong first half NOVA effort. With the score tied at 13 with seven minutes to go, NOVA went on a tear, outscoring Dundalk 16-6 to take a 29-19 halftime lead. Halley Cummins led the tear by scoring the last 7 NOVA points.

NOVA widened its lead to 43-29 with 13 minutes to go in the second half, but Dundalk began to slowly rally. NOVA’s lead dwindled to 5 but grew to 10 over the next 10 minutes.

Then with the lead at 8, with three minutes to go, Dundalk made 7 straight points to cut the lead to one with a minute to go.

Thus began the final minute of chaos, as each team grasped for the win. NOVA worked for a good shot but missed with 30.7 seconds to go. Then Dundalk could not in-bound the ball in time. NOVA did and Tori Lewis-Woods was fouled at 20.4 seconds, and made one of two foul shots for a 2-point NOVA lead.

Dundalk then engineered a 2-on-1 fast break but missed two layups. NOVA knocked the ball out. NOVA was again able to stop Dundalk from in-bounding the ball in time at 9.7 seconds. NOVA did it again, and Dundalk frantically fouled the wrong player, Carlie Zirkle, at 7.9 seconds. She made two of two foul shots for a 56-52 NOVA lead, and Dundalk missed a final layup.

Zirkle led NOVA with a super game of 21 points, including three 3 pointers. Kasee Hilliard added 10.

NOVA Coach Wayne Vincent commented, “The girls played really well tonight… They played together. We battled them at their place. We were up by 12 once there [but they lost]. Tonight was different. We have to play them one more time at their place. That will be the grudge match. We shot free throws poorly tonight, like 16 of 30. We have to work on that. Also, we’re a small team, and we all have to work on rebounding, rebounding, rebounding… We only have seven girls, but they really work hard.”

The second game was played against the cross-river rivals Prince George’s Community College (7-2). Prince George scored the first 6 points before NOVA’s Zirkle hit a 3 pointer. Prince George stretched its lead to 17-7 with 14 minutes to go. NOVA slowly cut the deficit, with a foul shot and basket by Paris Cantrell tying the score at 23 with four-and-a-half minutes to go. NOVA then took a slight 28-27 halftime lead.

The second half initially saw a very tight contest as Prince George gained a 43-42 lead with about 12 minutes to play, though NOVA was hurt early by Paris Cantrell’s ankle injury, which cut NOVA back to six players. At 43-42, Prince George went on a surge, scoring 9 of the next 10 points to go up 52-43 with nine minutes to go. NOVA’s turn was next, and it rallied to tie the score at 52-all on a Zirkle basket with five-and-a-half minutes left.

Scoring then became dear, and with a minute to go, it was 56-56 to set the stage for the final wild minute.

NOVA had the ball and worked for a good shot, but it turned out to be a long shot with 27 seconds to go that Halley Cummins missed. Prince George rebounded but NOVA double-teamed the ball at 15.9 seconds and recovered it.

The jubilation did not last long as Zirkle was called for a charge with 12.1 seconds remaining. NOVA again pressured the in-bounds pass after a time-out by the other team, but Prince George threw it over the pressure to a lone player near their basket. Fortunately it bounced off her foot but, unfortunately, off a NOVA player. Prince George had the ball again and a timeout, after which their player Danielle Durant drove to the basket from the right side and was fouled at 5.1 seconds.

She made both foul shots for a 58-56 Prince George lead, her tenth and eleventh points of the half. Prince George gained the in-bounds pass but was called for a travel with 1.8 seconds left. NOVA in-bounded and quickly passed to Zirkle in the corner of their court, who caught it facing away from the basket. She quickly turned and heaved the ball to score. Swish! An amazing last-second game winner? Nope, the game-ending buzzer had just sounded before she released the shot.
Still, NOVA had at least won one of the two exciting contests, the first by 56-52 and losing the second 58-56.

Zirkle and Yvette Gilliom both had 14 points in the second game, followed by Lewis-Woods with 11, which turned out to be her final game.

After the game, Coach Vincent remarked, “Some calls went our way, some didn’t. That’s basketball. I felt we should have had more points.”

In the six games in January, NOVA lost Lewis-Woods from the fall semester and gained Briana Cook. The first game on Jan. 14 saw NOVA pound an offensively-challenged Virginia Community College System opponent, Lord Fairfax Community College (0-4), by 56-20. Gilliom led the way with 18, followed by Cantrell with a fine game of 16.

NOVA traveled to Catholic University in D.C. for the next game against their junior varsity and went away with a 76-50 win on Jan 15.

NOVA traveled to CCBC-Dundalk Jan. 18 for their third meeting of the year, the “grudge” match. Dundalk took the deciding game of the set in another close one, 53-48.

The next weekend saw NOVA head to the Tidewater area and win over Tidewater Community College, 56-37, and Thomas Nelson Community College, 67-36.

Then, on Jan. 26, NOVA journeyed to Prince George’s Community College (12-4) for another close loss, 66-61.

Through January, the NOVA women’s basketball team stood at 9-7, after making substantial progress during the season, despite a scarcity of players. To date, NOVA has played three other VCCS women’s teams and has defeated them by a collective score of 179-93. Though return matches will occur, only one more new VCCS team will be encountered, and in past years they have not been strong. Perhaps this is the year that NOVA will finally win their first women’s VCCS title.

By: Arch Scurlock

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