By MARTY JAMES
A shortage of players – the result a combination of injuries and those who left the program – caused Napa Valley College to cancel its 2019-20 women's basketball season in mid-December, with the Storm having played eight games during its nonconference schedule.
Now Paul DeBolt, one of the winningest head coaches in state history and the California Community College Women's Basketball Coaches Association State Coach of the Year during the 2000-2001 season, is doing all he can to get the team up and going again.
"I'm optimistic about the future," DeBolt said in a telephone interview on Saturday, April 4. "We are doing some ground work, anticipating that eventually things will be back to normal. Most coaches are doing what they can to hold things together."
Intercollegiate sports for community colleges in the state are on hold.
The California Community College Athletic Association announced on March 19 that its Board of Directors voted unanimously that the remainder of the 2020 spring sports season will be canceled due to concerns over COVID-19, the coronavirus disease pandemic. The CCCAA, the governing body for intercollegiate athletics, also announced that the spring season of competition for approximately 9,500 student-athletes will be restored and face-to-face recruiting and recruiting-related travel is being prohibited immediately but will be re-evaluated in April, according to a report on the state's website, www.cccaasports.org.
The CCCAA, which provides oversight of athletics for 109 member schools within the California Community College System, said "with campuses throughout the state closed and most classes taking place online, and with the uncertainty about when conditions will improve, the Board of Directors voted to cancel the spring sports seasons. Additionally, nontraditional seasons and practices outside of regularly scheduled classes are canceled through June 30, 2020."
The CCCAA also announced that, "In light of the state and federal guidelines related to COVID-19, the CCCAA has also instituted a temporary ban on face-to-face recruiting – and any travel related to recruiting – until April 15, at which time the CCCAA will review and decide whether to continue the ban or not."
The CCCAA establishes the rules and regulations to administer the intercollegiate athletic activities of 24,000 student-athletes attending California's community colleges, according to www.cccaasports.org.
Napa Valley began its season in early November with eight players. Jerry Dunlap, NVC's Associate Dean and Athletic Director, announced on Dec. 16 the cancelation of the remainder of the 2019-20 women's basketball season due to an insufficient number of participants.
"We will continue to work and recruit to assemble a competitive women's basketball program for the 2020-21 season," Dunlap said in an email.
The Storm lost all eight of its games, falling twice to Ohlone-Fremont (73-47 and 85-40), and losing to Modesto (84-32), American River-Sacramento (89-44), Las Positas-Livermore (66-39), Hartnell-Salinas (75-41), Los Medanos-Pittsburg (99-39), and Lassen-Susanville (104-30).
"It was pretty difficult," said DeBolt, who spent 30 years as the head coach at Contra Costa-San Pablo (1986-2016). "We had some injuries. We had a couple of kids just quit showing up. We started playing and it was tough. I didn't have enough kids who could play.
"It was just time to make a decision around it. You need to be institutionally accountable to the teams you're playing and to what you're doing. If you can't get enough healthy kids to play, or kids who want to play, then it was time just to pull the plug. That's what we did.
"We tried to do it, as best we could. It wasn't going to work anymore. So we just did the prudent thing and shut it down."
The Storm averaged 39 points on 25.7 percent shooting, 21.8 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game in its abbreviated season.
Ajaloni Irvin, a sophomore, led Napa Valley, averaging 15.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 2.8 steals and 1.6 blocks per game.
Irvin was able to continue with basketball by transferring to Mission College-Santa Clara (12-16 overall, 4-8 Coast-South Conference). Irvin played in 11 games for Mission and averaged 15.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 3.5 steals per game.
"Ajaloni Irvin was playing pretty well," said DeBolt. "She really kind of held us together. She had a pretty good season. Once we folded, she was able to appeal to continue to play for another team."
Other contributors for NVC included:
* Malejah Cronin, a freshman (3.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.0 steals per game).
* Maira Montañez, a freshman (6.3 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 1.3 steals per game).
* Egypt Asaeli, a freshman (14.0 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 2.0 steals per game).
* Martha Sanchez, a freshman (4.2 rebounds per game).
* Alexia Stewart, a freshman (4.6 rebounds per game).
* Stephanie Rodin, a freshman (6.4 rebounds, 1.0 steals, 2.2 blocks per game).
Cronin and Montañez will return to play for the Storm next season, said DeBolt.
DeBolt said recruiting had been going well, with two players who had committed to NVC and several others who were very close to committing, before the CCCAA's announcement in March.
"We want to keep everybody safe and healthy – that's more important than athletics at this point," said DeBolt, who ranks sixth for wins all-time in California community college women's basketball history. "It's just unprecedented. We haven't been through this before. It's hard to say what's going to happen. That said, eventually things will come back, I think, and hopefully sooner than later. So we just have to hope for the best, continue to do what we're doing.
"The kids who are (high school) seniors are really going through it. These kids really have it rough right now. It's their senior year in high school, and all of a sudden, they're not in school anymore. It's supposed to be one of the best times in your life, and then all of a sudden … it's over. My heart goes out to them.
"We're waiting for this to pass, and then we're just jumping right back in."
It was the first season of women's basketball at Napa Valley since the 2017-18 season.
Napa Valley was forced to cancel the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons due to not having enough players to field teams. Due to Brian Fonseca resigning as coach and not enough players forced Napa Valley to also cancel the 2018-19 season.
DeBolt led Contra Costa to 11 Bay Valley Conference titles and 19 postseason appearances. The Comets finished as the state runner-up at the California Community College Athletic Association state tournament in both 2001 and 2003.
DeBolt guided Contra Costa to three state final four berths, four state elite eight berths, and seven state Sweet 16 berths, compiling a 562-380 record. He is a three-time CCCWBCA Junior College Region 8 Coach of the Year and an eight-time BVC Coach of the Year.
* Marty James is a freelance writer who makes his home in Napa. He retired on June 4, 2019 after spending 40 years as a sports writer, sports editor and executive sports editor for the Napa Valley Register, a daily newspaper in Napa County. He is a 1979 graduate of Sacramento State and a member of the California Golf Writers & Broadcasters Association, Associated Press Sports Editors, and California Prep Sports Media Association. He was inducted into the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Hall of Fame in 2016 and the Vintage High School Athletic Hall of Fame in September of 2019.