By By Matthew Nascone
The season started with a loss and ended with a 55-7 loss for the Northview Lady Chiefs basketball team.
NHS lost to the Catholic Lady Crusaders in the first round of the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 2B District 1 tournament to conclude a roller coaster ride of a season.
The Lady Chiefs (5-16) opened the season with a disappointing 12-game losing streak, but seemed to gel in the middle of the season and won five of their last nine games to end the season.
The team was not able to grab a win in regular season district play, but head coach Lorenzo Jones is not worried because he knows good things are ahead for his team.
"We are getting ready for next season as most of the girls are participating in softball or track this spring," Jones said. "And that is a positive note because it shows these girls are committed to winning in a couple years."
Jones said the success will not come immediately, but with four starting freshman this year the Lady Chiefs should have the experience in two years to be a good team if they can stay together.
Jones used the game against Catholic as a building block for the future. NHS was down big by halftime and Jones said he put in different lineups of girls to find out who works well with each other.
"I started rotating my girls and trying to find the five who work best together so we are ready for next year," he said. "It was one of those games that allows a team to work on different sets of girls."
Shakeria White, Rachel Killam and Melissa Garrett all scored two points in the loss. Finese Newton added one point.
Jones said the Lady Crusaders never gave NHS a second to breathe.
"They started with a full court press and we turned the ball over many times in the first quarter," he said. "They really put it on us in the second quarter and that is when I started to rotate girls in and out."
The Lady Chiefs trailed 13-2 after the first quarter and they did not score at all in the second quarter.
"We did not have a chance," Jones said. "But the game gave me a chance to try some things."
The future is bright, Jones said.
"But we can't wait for the future, we need to start working hard now and I believe the girls are going to do that in the summer this year," he said. "Next year will be a big year for our team and I believe we will do great."