2023 All-Academic Team

The New South Athletic Conference is proud to honor the following student-athletes for their outstanding efforts on the court and in the classroom:

2023 NSAC Women’s Basketball All-Academic Team (minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA)

Kayla Mosquera                Carolina Christian College

Colleen Kosten                  Christendom College

Kate Walz                           Christendom College

Bridget McCaughey          Christendom College

Liliana Speier                     Christendom College

Regina Cousino                     Christendom College

Catherine Thomas              Christendom College

Regina Bonvissuto              Christendom College

Miranda Keller                    Christendom College

Amelia Howell                   Christendom College

Jamica Jones                         The Apprentice School

NeOndra Kelly                        The Apprentice School    

Ashawnti Williams                 The Apprentice School

Nyla Jackson                         The Apprentice School

Emily Hill                                       Mid-Atlantic Christian University

Carly James                                   Mid-Atlantic Christian University

Apprentice Survives Against Maine-Fort Kent, 79-74

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – While it may not have been easy, the Apprentice School women’s basketball team did what they needed to do to take down Maine-Fort Kent Saturday afternoon, 79-74.

The Bengals jumped out to an early lead behind great shooting in the opening moments of the game, but the Builders weathered the storm and ended up leading by as many as 14 in the first half. UMFK battled back to trim the lead to a single possession late in the game, but key baskets and free throws were enough to push Apprentice to its third straight win.

Jada Bryant led the Builders with a double-double of 22 points and 19 rebounds. Ashawnti Williams also recorded a double-double with 10 points and 14 boards. Amaya Ray had 13 points, while Kerrigan Small added 10. Apprentice hit just one three pointer in the contest.

Story and image courtesy gobuilders.com

CCC Gets Top Seed for Inaugural NSAC Tournament

Carolina Christian College won the coin toss to break the tie for top seed in the upcoming New South Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament and gain the bye into the championship game.

CCC and Apprentice finished tied at .500 for the top spot and split their games during regular season, thus forcing the tiebreaker.

Apprentice will face Christendom on Saturday, February 25 in Newport News, Virginia in the semifinal matchup. The winner goes on to face the Centurions in Sunday’s final.

Builders Dominate Crusaders, 88-53

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The Apprentice School women’s basketball team avenged an earlier loss Tuesday, dominating Christendom, 88-53, to clinch a share of the New South Athletic Conference regular season crown.

The Builders jumped out to a 22-7 lead after one quarter and never looked back on the way to the win. Apprentice led by as many as 37 in the contest.

Jada Bryant led all scorers with 24 points to go with 11 rebounds. Nyla Jackson added 16, making four threes in the game. Catherine Thomas led the Crusaders with a double-double of 22 points and 12 boards.

With the win, the Builders tie Carolina Christian atop the league standings. A coin flip Wednesday morning will decide the No. 1 seed in the upcoming NSAC Tournament.

Story and image courtesy gobuilders.com

Builders Run Past CCC, Set Up Tie Breaker with Christendom

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – After trading early baskets and the lead, Apprentice’s Nyla Jackson sank a 3-pointer midway through the first period and the Builders never trailed again in knocking off Carolina Christian 66-42 in New South action Wednesday night. The Apprentice win creates an interesting scenario to be played out next week.

Apprentice (7-6 overall, 1-1 NSAC) led 10-7 after one period of play, but used a 21-6 second stanza while holding CCC to 2-19 from the field to put away the Centurions and lead 31-13 at halftime.

Jada Bryant’s double-double led the Builders with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Amaya Ray and Kerrigan Small each added 10 points. Ashawnti Williams dominated the defensive paint, hauling in 14 defensive rebounds to go with 4 offensive boards and 9 points.

Carolina Christian (6-4, 1-1) was led by Imari Hightower’s 23 points.

The Apprentice win now sets up a tie-breaker game with Christendom next Tuesday, February 7 in Newport News. If the Crusaders win, they will be the outright regular-season champions and gain the bye into the tournament championship game on February 26. If the Builders win, they will be in a statistical tie for first place with Carolina Christian. According to league rules, that would be settled by a coin toss.

Houzer Garners POTW Honors

Carolina Christian College forward Moninque Houzer has been named NSAC Women’s Basketball Player of the Week for her work last week against Warren Wilson College.

The junior racked up 18 points, collected 10 rebounds, and recorded 2 blocked shots in the Centurions’ 65-44 win.

Honorable mention: Shykiera Brown, CCC

MACU Cancels Rest of Season Due to Attrition

Due to a lack of available players, Mid-Atlantic Christian University has been forced to cancel the remainder of its New South Athletic Conference games for the 2022-23 women’s basketball season and pull out of the conference tournament scheduled for February 25 and 26.

MACU athletic director Andy Meneely released the following statement:

“Due to unforeseen attrition of our women’s basketball team, we have regretfully decided to pull out of the remainder of our conference games and the conference tournament. Ultimately, we have too many nagging injuries with the four remaining players, one added-in volunteer player that is not conditioned for college basketball, and zero available substitutes available.
We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience this causes the other schools in the conference. We want to be a reliable opponent and look to return to that status. We wish the best to the remaining schools in the conference.”

The Mustangs (4-7 overall, 1-0 NSAC) had been ranked as high as 7th in the USCAA Division 1 Women’s Poll in December.

Builders Rout TWU, 89-39

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Nyla Jackson led six Apprentice School women’s basketball players in double figures as the Builders easily dispatched of Trinity Washington in a non-conference game on Friday night, 89-39.

The game was never in doubt as Apprentice jumped out to a 14-2 start through the first five minutes and continued to stretch the lead out throughout the contest. The Builders held Trinity to just 14 first half points on the way to a 29-point halftime lead before a 50 point win.

Jackson had 16 points, while five other Builders finished in double figures as well. Ashawnti Williams, Amaya Ray and Jamica Jones all had 14 points, while Kerrigan Small and NeOndra Kelly added 12 and 10, respectively.

Apprentice (4-5 overall, 0-1 NSAC) had 67 rebounds on the night and finished +29 on the boards.

Story and image courtesy gobuilders.com

Christendom Joins NSAC for Women’s Basketball

In an agreement finalized on Christmas Eve, Christendom College has accepted an invitation to join the New South Athletic Conference for women’s basketball effective immediately. The Crusaders are eligible to compete for the inaugural NSAC women’s basketball championship culminating with the season-ending tournament February 25 and 26 in Newport News, Virginia.

“The Christendom women’s basketball team is excited to join the New South Conference for the remainder of the 2022-23 season,” said Crusaders athletic director Patrick Quest. “We look forward to the challenge of competing with the very talented women’s basketball teams in the New South Conference.”

Christendom’s game at Mid-Atlantic Christian on December 3, a thrilling 65-62 overtime win for the Mustangs, will count toward the standings.

“Christendom joining the New South was a great Christmas present,” said league commissioner Mike Davis. “The Crusaders are one of the top teams in the USCAA and will really push our other teams. We are thrilled to have them.”

Christendom is ranked 11th in USCAA division 2 and is led by sophomore Catherine Thomas, who is currently second in the nation in points per game (28.4) and rebounds (14.8).

Christendom joined the NSAC for volleyball earlier this year and swept through the conference season undefeated and won the tournament hosted at Crusader Gym.

Mustangs Struggle at Randolph

LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Randolph women’s basketball team broke the game open with a big second quarter effort as they went on to win Mid-Atlantic Christian 61-33 Saturday afternoon.

Randolph’s winning streak runs to seven games with the victory and their overall record improves to 9-2. The Mustangs drop to 4-6.

The WildCats led 11-0 past the midway point of the first quarter. The Mustangs cut the Randolph lead with a 9-1 run to close the deficit and trail 12-9.

The ‘Cats jumped on top of MACU with a 17-2 run to begin the second quarter that covered seven minutes of game time, effectively putting the game out of reach. Randolph would lead 33-13 at the break.

On the afternoon, the WildCats were 23-of-77 (29.9%) from the floor and 11-of-31 (35.5%) from behind the three-point arc. The Mustangs struggled from the floor, shooting 13-of-69 (18.8%) and just 2-of-26 (7.7%) in three-point attempts.

MACU closes out its fall semester schedule Monday at Virginia Wesleyan.

Story courtesy randolphwildcats.com