Milestone reached during Hooping for a Cure

Though the Nansemond River girls’ basketball team lost 71-52 at home against Oscar Smith on Friday, it did not prevent a couple of celebratory occasions from occurring during the night.

Lady Warriors senior point guard Ashante Humphries was honored during the contest for having scored her 1,000th career point, and the game also coincided with the team’s breast cancer awareness fund-raiser, Hooping for a Cure.

Toward the end of the first quarter, after Humphries had scored her second basket of the night, the game was brought to a halt to recognize her accomplishment. She was presented with a large color game photo of herself and a basketball with signatures from every member of the junior varsity and varsity teams.

Her father, Amir Humphries Sr., and her brother, Amir Jr., were decked out in T-shirts that read “Ashante 1000 Pts Humphries” on the back.

“I was so excited,” Ashante Humphries said of the honor. “I was trying to stay calm at first, you know, act like I’ve gotten an award before, and then once my dad and my brother had stood up with their T-shirts on, I just lost my mind.”

Her father, who has attended most of her games, was proud.

“It was something that I couldn’t achieve in high school, so it was a beautiful thing to see it and be here and be a part of it, actually,” he said.

Ashante Humphries, who ended up with 12 points on the night, became only the fourth girl in Nansemond River history to reach the 1,000-point milestone.

In fact, she reached it even earlier than she or most people knew. A recording error from Tuesday’s road match-up against Great Bridge listed her with 19 points for that game, putting her one point shy of the mark.

“We would have done it Tuesday, but the book said 19,” NR head coach R. Calvin Mason Sr. said. “Then when we went back, they actually put two in the wrong spot.”

Humphries actually had 21 points against the Lady Bruins. Nevertheless, her father was on hand for that game, as well, and Nansemond River Principal Thomas McLemore wanted to make sure a celebration took place on her home court.

At halftime, the Lady Warriors recognized three local breast cancer survivors: Rachel Hatton, Geraldine B. Odom and Jacqueline S. Washington, who works at Nansemond River as a paraprofessional.

In a handout provided for the event, Coach Mason explained that the Nansemond River girls’ basketball program’s ultimate goal for the night was “to become a greater part of the fight against breast cancer as we raise awareness and educate students, faculty, staff and our school community at large.”

Regarding the game, Mason said this year’s team still has lot of growing to do, a process that has been slower than he expected.

“We haven’t executed well the entire year, offensively,” he said. “We’ve kind of depended on (Ashante) to do more than she’s capable of doing. She’s capable of scoring, but she has to do it within the framework of the team.”

He has tried to convey to the team the importance of executing an offensive game plan, rather than immediately putting up shots, but the problem persists.

“We take quick shots, then we get behind, then we’ve got to kind of scramble trying to catch up, and it expends too much energy,” he said. “Our bench is not that deep.”

The Lady Warriors were led in scoring by senior forward Sonnae Gibson with 15 points, while sophomore guard Laura Ortiz added 11. Freshman center Sabree Clegg grabbed 11 rebounds. Humphries had three rebounds and three assists to go with her dozen points.

Nansemond River (4-16, 3-13) will remain on its home court to play Indian River on Tuesday.