Women’s Notebook – Firebirds off to roaring start
By Stephen Zerdelian
With Jefferson losing over the weekend (see below), the last undefeated team in the region is the University of the District of Columbia. Plenty had been made of the Rams (in the top 10 nationally last week and owners of a 9-1 record) but rather little light has been shed on the team located in the nations’ capitol. Let’s change that.
UDC led a peripatetic existence upon the foundation of the program in the early 1980’s, playing as a rare Division II independent for many years. Until their entry into the East Coast Conference in 2011, the Firebirds crafted a mish-mashed schedule of teams along the eastern seaboard. They also took part in the hardly noticed national independent Division II tournament on a regular basis. None of that stopped UDC from being a successful program overall, though.
In 1989, UDC made a run to the Division II Elite Eight, beating Shaw (89-56) and Virginia State (83-56) before losing to powerful Delta State (85-53) in the national quarterfinals. That was one of four visits to the NCAA tournament prior to their arrival in the ECC, with one-and-done trips in 1988, 1995 and 2009. Since then, UDC has had single-game NCAA ventures in 2012 (lost to Bentley as an 8-seed), 2014 (lost to Stonehill as a 5-seed) and 2015 (lost to Franklin Pierce as a 3-seed). Hard times ensued after the latter defeat.
The Firebirds started play in the ECC in the 2011-’12 season, were immediately an annual league contender and put together a stretch of four 20-win seasons in five years, with some ECC and NCAA tournament appearances as a result:
2011-’12 – 21-7, ECC semifinals, NCAA appearance
2012-’13 – 10-18
2013-’14 – 21-8, ECC champions, NCAA appearance
2014-’15 – 25-5, ECC semifinals, NCAA appearance
2015-’16 – 21-9, ECC semifinals
UDC bottomed out during the 2016-’17 campaign (3-25) and current head coach John Nakpodia accepted the job prior to the following season, beginning the long, difficult process of rebuilding the program. He began with a few guidelines to get things moving.
“The #1 priority was recruiting. I wanted to bring in student-athletes and coaches who understood and believed in the vision I had for the program,” he admitted. “We wanted to one day be able to compete on a national level and have a player-led program. After that we really focused on finding a unique style of play on both ends of the floor that coaches and teams would always have to prepare for. Skill-wise, we wanted student-athletes that had versatile games and could play multiple positions. We wanted ‘two-way’ players and not just players that could only thrive on the offensive or defensive end of the floor.”
After a few teething seasons and a pandemic-induced delay, the fruits of his labor began to show:
2017-’18 – 4-24
2018-’19 – 10-18
2019-’20 – 8-20
2020-’21 – COVID (no season)
2021-’22 – 13-15, ECC 1st round
2022-’23 – 15-13, ECC 1st round
Nakpodia has tried to mold the roster into a unit that has a variety of options and can hold their water in any situation.
“We focus on everyone on the floor being a threat,” he added. “We don’t really care who gets the shots or how many they take as long as we are taking good shots. If everyone is a threat on the floor, our opponents can’t prioritize stopping everyone.”
“I think the biggest improvement is that we have a team full of student-athletes that are committed to putting in the work outside of practice,” Nakpodia continued. “When you have student-athletes that love to get in the gym and they’re invested in their craft, it makes things a lot easier. We also have been able to develop an offensive identity. We prioritized principles over plays, and it has really allowed us to flourish on (the offensive) end of the floor. Our student-athletes love that freedom, and it is truly teaching them how to play the game of basketball.”
The Firebirds’ 11-0 start has seen most games settled by double digits with only a 64-60 win at Chestnut Hill, a thrilling comeback win at Queens, and a recent home decision against St. Thomas Aquinas the outliers. In a show of resilience, UDC fought back from as much as a dozen points down in the fourth quarter against Queens, closing the game on a 17-1 blitz to prevail, 64-58. Junior Laci Johnson led the Firebirds to a vital ECC victory over St. Thomas Aquinas last week, 66-58, netting 23 points in 21 minutes off the bench. Johnson (9-16 FG, 4-9 3FG) was bolstered by senior Destiny Ryles (21 points, 9 boards, 6 assists), junior Tori Williams (12 boards and 5 assists, making amends for a 1-11 shooting night) and junior Latavia Jackson (11 points) in the latter victory. The balance is indicative of UDC’s approach this season – lots of contributors sharing the load. In the game against STAC, the Firebirds blew a close game open with a 15-4 fourth period surge, turning a nail-biter into a 65-52 lead with 1:19 left.
Nakpodia is bullish on the ECC as an entity, noting, “I think the ECC is very underrated and doesn’t get the respect it deserves. I think we can play with anyone in the region. There are some very consistent programs, and it is filled with great coaches. You must come to play every night.”
Assessing the roster, Nakpodia notes how the group has talent, determination, and togetherness yet are still adapting to each other and establishing their identity.
“I think our team’s biggest strength is our versatility. We can play a lot of different styles of basketball. We can play big, small, scoring-focused, defensive-focused, etc. I think it makes us very hard to guard and allows us to adjust to opponents with a variety of styles. Our biggest weakness is that we are still developing chemistry. Half of our team is new to the program, and we had a few injuries in preseason. The team is still learning how to play with each other,” he admitted.
“I think Ryles is one of the best point guards in the country. I don’t think there are many players like her that can affect the game in so many ways. She can score, facilitate, rebound, defend and she plays with passion. She is really the engine of our team,” he offered. “Jackson is going to go down as one of the best players in school history. She is the most naturally gifted scorer we’ve had in the program, and she just makes winning plays on both ends of the floor. Once she committed to the program, we knew we had an absolute game changer that could be the foundation of the program.”
“Williams is the most naturally gifted player we’ve had in the program,” he added. “We knew that if she could put it all together one day, she could be a two-way star. She really put in the work this offseason and it has been on display this season. She is one of our most dependable players and our tone setter. Nia Ford is a true lockdown defender and has a rare blend of size, quickness, speed, and strength. She is always up to take on the toughest (defensive) assignments but at the same time she can score in a variety of ways on the offensive end.”
Williams (15.9 ppg, 7.6 rpg) had big outings against Southern Connecticut (29 points), Chestnut Hill (26 points), Mercy (25 points) and Georgian Court (23 points) while Ryles (16.3 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 6.2 apg) netted 29 points (18-22 at the line!) in a 76-60 decision over Virginia Union (7-1 entering the contest) last night and 26 points in a win over Bowie State. Jackson (13.5 ppg) led the way in the Queens game with 20 points. That trio fronts a solid attack that keeps the Firebirds in the driver’s seat most of the time and solid depth keeps UDC ticking along. Other options include juniors Johnson (9 ppg), Ford (8.7 ppg), Aiyanna Ellis, Tania Hill and Shanell Haskins, along with freshman Kristian Harris. As a unit, the Firebirds score freely (74.5 ppg), defend stoutly (59 ppg allowed), shoot more free throws than their foes (almost six per game) and force more than six more turnovers than they commit. Add it up, and its winning math.
There will certainly be challenges down the line, including two ECC games against Daemen, another against STAC and non-league contests against Holy Family, Adelphi, and New Haven.
“I think the biggest factor to the strong start is that we have student-athletes that are willing to sacrifice their individual games for the benefit of the team. We have players that are prioritizing being stars in their roles. I also think we have one of the best benches in the country, filled with starting caliber players, so there is never a drop off regardless of who we have on the floor,” Nakpodia continued. “We are not content with our start, and we want to keep getting better!”
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Speaking of Jefferson, they lost an epic triple-overtime clash to Bloomsburg on Saturday, 107-97, at the Gallagher Center. The end of regulation and the first two extra sessions featured buzzer or near-buzzer beaters before the Huskies took control in the third OT period and raced off victorious.
Leah Kale (20 points) knotted the game at 72 with a basket at the end of regulation for BU, and teammate Ava Stevenson hit a triple with three ticks left in the first overtime to even it at 81. Ram guard Emily Keefhuss sank one of her three three-pointers at the horn to finish the second OT at 90-all, but Bloomsburg never trailed in the third overtime. Sam Yencha’s (20 points and a career-high 24 boards) basket with 2:11 left drew the Rams within 99-97 but the Huskies (3-5) scored the last eight points while Jefferson went 0-6 from the field to end the marathon.
Haley Meinel (21 points), Yencha and triple-double maven Morgan Robinson (14 points, 14 rebounds, 12 assists) played all 55 minutes for the Rams while Cassie Murphy (20 points) netted her 1,000th career point before fouling out. Katie Shaw (26 points, 13 caroms, 7 assists) topped the Bloomsburg scoring. The triple overtime was the tenth within the region since the 2003-’04 season.
The setback ends Jefferson’s unbeaten start (now 9-1) and will damage their strength of schedule, given Bloomsburg’s record. Generally, the Rams are destined to have a low SOS since the CACC has its issues and a home loss to a sub-.500 team hurts even more but expect them to bounce back and start a new winning streak soon.
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