The women and men’s basketball team journeyed to North East, Maryland on Nov. 14^th to play Cecil College in afternoon contests in their new gymnasium (no food or drink allowed.)

In the first game, the NOVA women had little trouble with the “out-womanned” Cecil College squad which dressed only six players. NOVA’s up-tempo play thwarted the zone defense employed by Cecil.

Julia Terrell’s 10 points and Karla Cortes’ eight points, held a 14-point halftime lead for NOVA, 41-27.

NOVA continued to struggle with Cecil in the second half, stretching its lead to 27 points several times before settling for a 21-point win, 84-63.

NOVA had five players in double figures, with nine players scoring. Their scoring:

Julia Terrell 14, Stella Hollaway and Dana Carlstrom 13, Karla Cortes 12,  Kristen Dukes 12 points with 13 rebounds, Elizabeth Ramirez nine, Alyssa Ablaza and Whitney Stan each four points, and Brittany Patriarca three points.

For Cecil College, Sarai Nathaniel caused NOVA trouble by continually  driving to the basket for attempted layups. She scored eight points in the first half and 17 in the second half for 25 points, making 10 baskets and shooting five for nine from the foul line. Megan Brandon added 14 points.

With the win, NOVA went to 3-2, while Cecil slipped to 1-1.        .

In the second game, the NOVA men took on the strong Cecil College team, who won the Division II junior college crown in 2006.  NOVA came out strong at the start, taking a 17-8 lead. However, NOVA couldn’t keep up its strong pace and with about nine minutes to go, Cecil had tied the score 19-19. With NOVA’s combination of poor shooting, numerous turnovers and a very hot hand by one Cecil substitute, Donn Hill with 21 which included five three pointers, resulted in NOVA being down by 18 at halftime, 52-34.

NOVA came out determined in the second half and brought the lead down to 12 in the first two minutes, 52-40, but Cecil countered and took the lead up to 22 at 66-44 with just under 15 minutes to play.

NOVA didn’t give up and did lower the deficit to 10, 69-79 with about seven minutes to go, but Cecil countered any later momentary surges by NOVA, and wound up winning by 15, 98-83. Though they played Cecil better in the second half, the first half proved to be a disappointing game.

With the loss, NOVA fell to 3-2 for the year, while Cecil evened its record at 1-1.

For NOVA, Cordero Hull scored 22 and Krizzo Washington added 13. Cecil had five players in double figures, with Donn Hill’s 25 points off the bench pacing them. Sidney Evans added 21, Harold Washington 19 and Gabriel McNeal 13.

By: Arch Scurlock

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