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While Suffolk’s three public high schools — King’s Fork, Lakeland and Nansemond River — have not started their winter sports seasons, city private high schools Nansemond-Suffolk Academy and Suffolk Christian Academy have gotten under way.

NSA has teams competing in boys basketball, girls basketball and swimming, while SCA has teams in boys and girls basketball.

 

Suffolk Christian boys and girls basketball 

The SCA Knights’ boys basketball team is 0-7 so far, but recently came the closest it has all season to winning, dropping a 44-40 decision to Bethel Christian of Hampton. It has also lost twice each to Elizabeth City, N.C. schools New Life Academy and Victory Christian, once to Summit Christian Academy of Yorktown and another to Gateway Christian of Virginia Beach.

The Knights’ girls have fared better, going 1-5 so far, beating Tabernacle Baptist Academy of Virginia Beach 46-16 on Jan. 1 in their most recent game. SCA broke open a tie game with a 16-point second quarter, and then outscored Tabernacle Baptist 17-1 in the fourth quarter to provide for the final margin of victory.

In their two games previous to that, they lost by a combined 11 points — to Denbigh Baptist Christian 29-25 Dec. 11 and 33-26 to Gateway Christian Dec. 4.

Against Denbigh Christian, Laura Cornette led the Knights with 16 points and 12 rebounds, with Kendal Legg chipping in eight points and nine rebounds. Taylor White added four rebounds, and Rachel Cornette and Taylor Rockett each had three rebounds.

Laura Cornette had a team-high 20 points, nine rebounds and nine steals against Gateway Christian, while Mary Kathryn Emerson had seven rebounds, Kennedy Oparaji five rebounds, Legg four rebounds and Emily Stubbs three rebounds.

SCA’s girls basketball team played Victory Christian twice in its first three games, losing both. Laura Cornette had 10 points and eight rebounds, and Legg had four rebounds in the first matchup. In the second game between the two teams, Laura Cornette scored 15 points, five rebounds and seven steals, while Rachel Cornette had eight steals.

In its 38-28 loss to Summit Christian Academy, Laura Cornette had a triple-double, picking up 21 points, 12 rebounds and 11 steals.

 

Nansemond-Suffolk Academy boys and girls basketball

The Saints’ boys basketball team fell to 1-3 after a 66-45 home loss to Norfolk Collegiate School Jan. 7.

Isaiah Fuhrmann led NSA with 10 points while adding six rebounds. Kemauri Spencer and Jordan Ward each had eight points, and Brady Canfield added seven points and a team-high eight rebounds. Spencer also picked up five rebounds and three assists.

NSA held Norfolk Collegiate to 39% shooting, but the Saints only shot 34% from the field and were outrebounded 51 to 29.

The Saints trailed by just four points after the first quarter, but Norfolk Collegiate extended its lead throughout and led by as many as 24 points at one point.

NSA’s boys won their opening game 70-65 Dec. 29 against Norfolk Christian, but have lost their last three, including two consecutive games to Cape Henry Collegiate. The first of the two matchups against Cape Henry Collegiate saw the Saints lose 59-44 despite Jaden Freeman picking up the 1,000th point of his high school career, and in the second, lost 82-40.

In the second of the two games against Cape Henry Collegiate, at home, NSA got a team-high 12 points from Grant Lopez, and 10 from Spencer, who also had five rebounds, but the Saints never led in the game and were down 50-24 at the half.

Coming off a 19-9 season, the Saints had just nine practices prior to the 42-point loss, according to coach Chris Fuhrmann, and are a different-looking team without their two main guards from a season ago.

Kaleb Brown, a second-team Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association All-State selection, is now at King’s Fork. George Pettaway has been a two-sport standout at NSA, and has multiple scholarship offers at Division I schools in football, but is not on the Saints’ basketball roster this season.

NSA’s girls basketball team is coming off a 37-17 win over Cape Henry Collegiate Jan. 5, getting 21 points, 10 rebounds and three steals from Cammy Reid.

Maren Council added seven points and three assists for the Saints in the win, while Alyssa Waddy added 15 rebounds.

The Saints held Cape Henry to just two first-quarter points and none in the fourth quarter.

NSA’s girls are 2-0, opening the season Dec. 29 with a 55-23 win over Norfolk Christian. They lost to Steward School in the state championship game last season and finished 23-4.