Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Matthew Hatfield

Contributing writer

Generally, junior varsity boys and girls basketball games feature freshmen and sophomores honing their skills to prepare for the future at the varsity level in the coming seasons.

On Saturday, Jan. 21, it was supposed to be an ordinary junior varsity girls basketball game at Nansemond River High School as the Warriors played host to Churchland from nearby Portsmouth. What transpired was anything but typical.

Arlisha Boykins, a 22-year-old who was an assistant coach on the Churchland junior varsity girls basketball team, decided to impersonate a 13-year-old who participated for the Truckers.

The parents of the unidentified 13-year-old indicated that their daughter was away at a club basketball tournament.

No Churchland administrators were in attendance at the junior varsity game between the visiting Truckers and Warriors when this unprecedented occurrence took place.

Administrators investigated the situation and reported all findings to the Virginia High School League without any penalties levied as of this point.  However, Churchland administrators decided to terminate the coaching staff for both the junior varsity and varsity girls basketball teams.  A spokesperson indicated that Boykins no longer is employed by Portsmouth Public Schools with her last day of working coming on Jan. 25.

Additionally, the Churchland girls varsity and junior varsity teams have decided to opt out of the remainder of the 2022-23 campaign.

While Churchland’s season is over for its junior varsity and varsity girls basketball teams, Nansemond River has returned to some normalcy.  The junior varsity girls at NRHS will play four more district games – at home vs. Lakeland (Feb. 2), at King’s Fork (Feb. 6), vs. Oscar Smith (Feb. 10) and at Western Branch (Feb. 14) along with out-of-district matchups at Franklin (Feb. 4) and at New Kent (Feb. 8).