HSPN Tourney - 'A' Bracket Championship

New Life Storm 32 Frederick Force 26

For the 3rd consecutive year, the Storm girls capped off their season playing in the Vines Center, homecourt of the NCAA Division 1 Liberty University Flames. This time, the Storm faced the Force, from Frederick, MD, for the 1A Division championship.

HSPN Tourney - 'A' Bracket Semi-Finals

New Life Storm 43 St. John Saints 15

After finishing 0-3 in a strong pool during pool play, the NLC Storm were seeded in the 'A' bracket for bracket play. They responded by rolling to a 28-point win over the St. John the Baptist Saints of Front Royal, VA. The Storm was running from the opening tip, scoring mostly on fast break run-outs to jump ahead 15-3 at the end of the first quarter. Once again facing a 2-3 zone, the girls were not particularly effective scoring out of the halfcourt offense, but kept the pressure on defensively and continued to run at every opportunity over the course of the game as they cruised to the easy win. The win was capped off by Sarah Munroe scoring two 4th quarter basket in her first action of the tournament, making it so that all 10 players have now scored in the tourney. For the game, Mary led the Storm with 13 points. Shelby led with 8 rebounds and 6 steals, while Emily dished out 3 assists.

HSPN Tourney - Pool Round 3

Fairfax Firebirds 52 New Life Storm 40

The New Life Storm lost their third game of the tournament against the Fairfax Firebirds by a score of 52-40. The Firebirds were a senior-dominated team that outsized the Storm at every position on the floor. Once again, NLC faced a physical zone defense that collapsed into the paint, which did a good job surrounding Shelby and denying her good shot opportunities. They also used their size to control the boards. The only points the Storm could manage in the first quarter were two 3-pointers by Emily on out-of-bounds plays, as they fell behind 13-6. The Firebirds stretched it to 26-16 at the half. In the second half, the margin stayed steady in the low double-digits, with the Storm playing hard and getting points from a number of different players, but were not able to generate enough movement to consistently get good shots against the zone and struggled to get stops against the Firebirds. Their best chance came when they cut the lead to 8 with some steals and fast break buckets with about5 minutes to play. Three times in a row they got defensive stops but were not able to convert offensively. Emily led the Storm with 11 points and 5 assists while Shelby pulled down 10 rebounds.

HSPN Tourney - Pool Round 2

CHEN (MD) Bravehearts 46 New Life Storm 36

In their second game of the first day of the tournament, the NLC Storm faced the Bravehearts of the Christian Home Educators Network of Baltimore, MD. As in the earlier game, this started out as a low-scoring affair. Again, the Storm faced a packed-in zone defense but used good patience to work the ball down low to Shelby. They also played very solid defensively against a team with some quick players who could drive the ball well. At the half the Bravehearts led 18-15, with Shelby already scoring 10 points. The Storm began the second half with an 8-0 run. Mary scored on a put-back, and then made a kick-out to Katie Patrick for a 3 to start the run. Just when it looked like the Storm were about to seize control of the game, the Bravehearts answered. From the middle of the third period to the middle of the 4th period, the lead see-sawed back and forth. Shelby scored on a rebound basket with about 4 minutes left to put the Storm up 36-34. That would be the last points of the game for the Storm, as the Bravehearts closed the game on a 12-0 run. Even with the loss, this young Storm team executed well and did a lot of good things that put them right there with a chance to beat the 18-7 Bravehearts, but just couldn't come up with the plays to close the deal down the stretch. Shelby again led the Storm with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Katie joined her in double-figures with 10 points and Emily dished out 4 assists.

HSPN East Coast Tourney - Pool Round 1

NW Ohio Cougars 38 New Life Storm 29

In the opening round of the HSPN East Coast Championship tournament, the NLC Storm faced off with the Northwest Ohio Cougars, who entered the game with a record of 28-2. The game was a low-scoring, physical defensive struggle. The Storm started out moving the ball well and showing good patience offensively, and defensively Ele'Jah and Emily got in the passing lanes and grabbed a number of steals. The lead see-sawed back and forth most of the first half, before a 3-pointer from the corner by Tamara gave the Storm a 16-15 halftime lead. The Cougars made some defensive adjustments after the half and came out aggressively trapping the corners and wings out of their zone. This led to Storm turnovers on the first 5 possessions of the 2nd half. The Cougars' zone was also collapsing well to the inside, and the Storm was only able to get off one FG attempt inside the 3-pt line the entire 3rd quarter. They continued to defend well, though, and entered the 4th quarter only down 23-20. In the 4th quarter the Storm defense tired a bit, and the Cougars were able to get enough separation to knock down several mid-range jump-shots to pull out to a 9-point lead going into the last 2 minutes of the game. Emily nailed a 3 to give the Storm some life down the stretch, but a 5-pt margin was as close as the Storm could get. On the game, Shelby led the Storm with 10 points and 13 rebounds, while Ele'Jah grabbed 4 steals.

NCHEAC State Tournament

Semi-Final: New Life Storm 32 Forsyth Hawks 57

Playing for a spot in the state championship game, the NLC Storm lost to the Forsyth Hawks, the same opponent and gym in which they opened the season in November. The Storm hung on well for the first quarter. They had success getting the ball to Shelby in the high post against the Forsyth zone defense. In the second quarter, the Hawks begain to pull away, and led by 15 at the half. Two baskets by Mary ignited a short Storm rally at the beginning of the 3rd quarter, but then the Hawks answered and gradually pulled away to the final margin. Forsyth spread the floor and was able to repeatedly hurt the Storm with dribble pentration, as NLC was slow to rotate to stop the dribble. Shelby led the Storm with 9 points, 16 rebounds, and 4 steals. Emly dished out 5 assists.

Consolation Game: New Life Storm 48 Cabarrus Stallions 56 (OT)

Playing for 3rd place in the state for the 3rd consecutive season, the NLC Storm got out to a big lead but could not hold off the Cabarrus Stallions, who claimed an overtime victory. In the first half, the Storm moved the ball around tremendously and played some of their best basketball of the season in going ahead by as many as 16 on the way to a 34-23 half-time advantage. In the second half, the Storm was held to only 12 points as the Stallions stormed back to tie the game and send it to overtime, where the Storm had nothing left. Emily led the Storm with 10 points, 7 assists, and 6 steals. Shelby pulled down 16 rebounds.

Shelby was named to the All-Tournament team.

NCHEAC East Regional Championship

New Life Storm 32 Lighthouse Eagles 59

The NLC Storm faced off against the Lighthouse Eagles for the East Region championship and the undefeated Eagles came away with the victory. The Storm defense played much stronger than in the previous meeting between these two teams. Also the Storm had some success offensively when they attacked the Eagles. Though they were able to keep the margin in the teens well into the fourth quarter this time, ultimately there were too many Storm turnovers and too many Lighthouse offensive rebounds given up for the Storm to mount a serious threat.
After Aaron pulled the starters with 4 minutes to go, the Lighthouse starters surged out to a wider final margin. For NLC, Mary led the scoring with 10 points, Shelby had 12 rebounds, and Emily 4 assists. Shelby and Emily were named to the All-Tournament team.

Senior Night

New Life Storm 53 Masonic Red Devils 29

The NLC Storm celebrated Senior Night in style and finished the regular season with a winning record (11-10) with a 24-point victory over the Lady Devils of Masonic Home in the last home game of the season. The Storm started slow, falling behind by 8 points early. They got things going in the second quarter, though, outscoring Masonic 14-4 to take an 8 point halftime lead. The Storm continued to control the game in the second half, gradually pulling away for the comfortable win. The star of the night was Ele'Jah Carter, the team's only senior. Ele'Jah hit jump shots and scored on slashing drives to finish with 12 points, to go along with 8 rebounds and 3 assists in a great all-around game. Shelby, playing after landing at the airport less than an hour before game time, joined Ele'Jah in double figures with 10 points. Leigh led the team in rebounding with 10 boards and Emily had 5 steals. Four players had at least 3 assists, led by Leigh with 4, as the team moved the ball around well.

After the game, Ele'Jah was honored in the senior ceremony at halftime of the boys game. The whole Storm family is so glad that she has been a part of the program this year. Ele'Jah will be missed and we all wish her the best.