By MARTY JAMES martyjames.sports@gmail.com
The Napa Valley College women's basketball team opens the 2024-25 season with two games at the College of the Redwoods Crossover, a four-team event in Eureka, this week.
The Storm will play two nonconference games. On Friday, they face College of the Redwoods at 7 p.m. On Saturday, they will meet Lassen College-Susanville at 1 p.m.
The Storm has been preparing for its 28-game regular-season schedule since the spring. Napa Valley continued its offseason work with a summer program, which included work in the weight room, conditioning and individual skill work. The team's fall session began in August.
"We've worked pretty hard," Storm head coach Paul DeBolt said on Monday. "We've had a good fall semester. I think practices in October have been pretty good. So, we'll see.
"We're not deep, but we've got some good players. I think we'll get better as the year goes on. It's going to be one of those teams where we start off and we see where we're at, and then we kind of take it from there." DeBolt, who is in his sixth year as head coach, is assisted Zack Cook.
"It's exciting to start another year here. We're ready," said DeBolt.
The Napa Valley team, comprised of seven freshmen and two sophomores, is led by Rose Jamison.
Jamison, a sophomore guard, was granted a medical redshirt after being limited to playing in only three games last year, averaging 8.0 points and 4.7 rebounds per game, due to a knee injury.
Jamison, a top scorer and rebounder who is in her third year in the program, had surgery on her left knee on Aug. 16, 2023.
She was a unanimous first-team All-Bay Valley Conference selection as a freshman, as she averaged 15.8 points, 8.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game, during the 2022-23 season.
She was also named to the California Community College Women's Basketball Coaches Association 2022-23 All-Academic Team.
Jamison scored 19 points, helping Napa Valley to a 92-80 win over College of the Siskiyous-Weed in a Round 1 game in the California Community College Athletic Association-Northern California Regionals during the 2022-23 season.
"She's strong right now. We're trying to keep her strong, keep her going," said DeBolt. "She's in such good, physical shape right now. She's just an outstanding all-around basketball player. She's really a talented player.
"She can score at all three levels. She's a good defender. She's just a real valuable asset for us, and a great kid. She's the whole package."
Also returning for NVC is Kamilah Tiongco, a sophomore guard. Tiongco played in 27 games last year and averaged 6.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.7 steals per game.
"Kamilah has turned into a great (1-2) combo guard. She does a little bit everything for us," said DeBolt. "She's gotten a little more athletic. It's been nice to see her basketball development. She's come a long way."
After finishing in third place in the Bay Valley Conference last year, Napa Valley advanced to the California Community College Athletic Association Regional Championships. The Storm (16-13 overall, 10-4 Bay Valley Conference), the No. 24 seed, lost in the first round to San Jose City College, 83-45.
"I think at the beginning of the year you just want to play somebody else," said DeBolt. "You're tired of playing against yourselves."
Napa Valley had scrimmages against Foothill College-Los Altos Hills and Ohlone College-Fremont.
"It's always a challenge to get the season started. There are always a few surprises when you start. So, it will be interesting to see what the surprises are for us," said DeBolt.
"We put in a lot of time. You want to see the improvement come. Now it's just a matter of going and playing the games."
Napa Valley travels to play Sacramento City College on Nov. 6.
The Storm's first home game of the season is Nov. 13 against Folsom Lake College.
The Storm has 12 nonconference games.
"We've got some good teams in there," DeBolt said. "I think everybody that we play will be formidable. They're good teams."
The Bay Valley Conference season starts on Dec. 17.
"We'd like to get to the postseason. We'd like to compete for the conference championship. Hopefully we can do that this year," said DeBolt.
Napa Valley will host Storm Surge IV, an eight-team bracketed tournament, Dec. 12-14. Each team is guaranteed three games.
The field consists of Napa Valley, Contra Costa-San Pablo, Diablo Valley-Pleasant Hill, Foothill, Gavilan-Gilroy, Porterville, San Jose City and Siskiyous.
Awards will be presented to the Most Valuable Player and the All-Tournament team, first-place team, second- and third-place teams, and the consolation champion.
Napa Valley's freshmen class consists of Ashley Torres, Teira Greenwood, Arianna Aguilar, Deena Sharqawi, Helena White, Jazmine Fontilla and Marticia Pollard.
Fontilla is an American Canyon High graduate and a transfer from UC Merced. Fontilla did not play for UC Merced last year due to a knee injury.
Fontilla was named as the 2020-21 and 2022-23 Napa County Girls Basketball Player of the Year, as selected by the Napa Valley Register.
She averaged 12.1 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.7 steals per game during the 2022-23 season for American Canyon.
She averaged 18.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 3.8 steals per game during the 2021-22 season for American Canyon.
"She's really an outstanding point guard," said DeBolt. "I think she adds a lot to what we do. She's a really fine facilitator, and she's somebody who can play the 1, 2 or the 3 positions, and a smart defender. She'll get the ball where it's supposed to go."
Aguilar averaged 15.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game last year for St. Partrick-St. Vincent High of Vallejo.
"She's a shooter, a good ball handler, a fine offensive player," said DeBolt. "She brings hustle. She's a good defender. She's a gamer. She wants to win. She's competitive."
Torres is a guard for the Storm.
"She works hard, is a good defender and facilitator," said DeBolt. "Offensively, she is a good ball handler. She's a really good all-around player, and brings a spark and energy to the court."
Greenwood is a guard and Sharqawi is a guard/forward for the Storm.
White is playing volleyball, as a middle blocker/right-side hitter, currently for NVC. She will join the basketball team once the Storm ends its volleyball season.
"She really runs well, and is a good, strong defender. Hopefully we can build up her confidence and she can have a role for us this year," said DeBolt. "She's a nice player."
Pollard is a forward/post.
"She plays hard and she works hard, and is just going to get better and better," said DeBolt.
Prior to taking over at Napa Valley, DeBolt led the Contra Costa College program for 30 years (1986-2016), guiding the Comets 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 2001 and 2003. Contra Costa advanced to three state final four berths, four state elite-eight berths, and seven state Sweet 16 berths.
DeBolt is a three-time California Community College Women's Basketball Coaches Association Junior College Region 8 Coach of the Year and an eight-time BVC Coach of the Year.
He was named as the CCCWBCA State Coach of the Year during the 2000-2001 season.
Napa Valley College Athletics honored DeBolt on his 1,000th career game as a head coach in January of 2023. He became only the fourth head coach in California community college history to coach 1,000 games and the first one to do it in Northern California.
He ranks seventh all-time in California women's JC basketball state history for wins, with a record of 609-428. In 34 years, he has coached in 1,037 games.
He is very proud of the work that has gone into building the NVC women's program.
"I think there's a lot of room for improvement," he said. "We have high aspirations here. We want them to get in the weight room and get stronger. We focus on team play and team development. We play a fun brand of basketball. We're trying to establish something that's going to last, and that is quality, and that people will think of Napa for women's basketball.
"We're very proud of the fact we've got seven of our former players playing at a four-year level this year."
A look at this year's NVC team
A look at this year's NVC team (listing player, position, class, height, hometown/high school):
* Rose Jamison: guard, sophomore, 6-0, Fairfield/Rodriguez-Cordelia.
* Ashley Torres: guard, freshman, 5-4, Pinole/Pinole Valley.
* Kamilah Tiongco: guard, sophomore, 5-5, San Francisco/Pinole Valley.
* Teira Greenwood: guard, freshman, 5-2, Vallejo/Vallejo.
* Arianna Aguilar: guard, freshman, 5-6, Vallejo/St. Patrick-St. Vincent.
* Deena Sharqawi: guard/forward, freshman, 5-6, Fairfield/Rodriguez-Cordelia.
* Helena White: forward/post, freshman, 5-10, Lammana/Priest River, Idaho.
* Jazmine Fontilla: point guard, freshman, 5-7, Vallejo/American Canyon.
* Marticia Pollard: forward/post, freshman, 5-11, Antioch/Oakland Tech.
Preseason State Top 25
Ten Northern California teams are in the California Community College Women's Basketball Coaches Association Preseason State Top 25, as announced by the California Community College Athletic Association, in a report, at www.cccaasports.org, on Oct. 31.
San Joaquin Delta-Stockton is No. 5.
Also, in the poll:
No. 7 Laney-Oakland, No. 9 San Francisco, No. 11 Folsom Lake, No. 12 Sierra-Rocklin, No. 17 Cosumnes River-Sacramento, No. 18 Chabot-Hayward, No. 19 San Jose City, No. 21 Santa Rosa, No. 25 San Mateo.
Also receiving votes, according to the report: Hartnell-Salinas, Skyline-San Bruno, Solano-Fairfield.
* 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. He was inducted into the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Hall of Fame in 2016, the Vintage High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019, and the Napa High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2022.