Back on the court
Memories flooded back for Grafton’s girls basketball players as they readied for their season opener, the first event in their gym since a fire forced the school’s closure last year.
As Grafton athletic director Laura Parker entered her office last August, so much had changed since she was last there. And yet, her office was just the same as it was the day she left it.
On Feb. 3, Parker discovered the fire in the electrical room at the school that forced its closure for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year. Finally allowed to return in August, she walked into a time warp where everything on her desk was in the exact place it was six months earlier, while posters of basketball players created for the Feb. 4 “Senior Night,” which was canceled, still hung in the gym.
The situation was similar for girls basketball players Nikki Gibson and Kiara Bomboy. Not allowed back in the building because of the smoke damage, they reopened their lockers for the first time in August to retrieve their favorite sneakers — orange and white Nikes for Gibson, black Nikes for Bomboy.
Those memories flooded back on Thursday as they readied for the first event in the Grafton gym since the fire, the Clippers’ season-opening girls basketball game against York.
“It’s been really fun being back in our gym,” Bomboy said of preseason practices. “I’ve really missed it.”
Parker added, “This is doubly nice, to have a first game back, but also to see kids back here, doing something they love and seeing
the joy on their faces.”
The Clippers’ 49-32 win over York in the season opener for both teams made the occasion all the more joyful. But the absence from their home gym doesn’t conjure only memories of emptiness or separation — far from it.
Parker acknowledged it was an inconvenience to set up practices at Tabb Middle School and to schedule games at Poquoson, Tabb and York. But everyone at each of those places was so helpful, it made things easy.
“And the girls didn’t miss a beat,” Parker said. “It didn’t matter where they were, they
stepped up and played well.”
Clippers coach Tommy Bayse said, “They came to practice and worked hard every day because they wanted to finish strong. It’s a testament to them that they made the best of a difficult situation.”
That included a 53-37 win over Warhill that earned the Clippers a share of the Bay Rivers District title with the previously unbeaten Lions. The Clippers followed with an upset win over King’s Fork in the regional semifinals to earn an unexpected Class 4 state tournament berth.
“That was exciting,” Gibson, a junior who averaged 10.6 points and 5.7 rebounds as a sophomore, said of the state tournament run and 23-3 finish. “Hopefully, that momentum can carry over to this year.”
Bomboy, a sophomore who averaged 12.2 points last year, said, “Making the state tournament gives us confidence because it shows those of us who return what we can do together. We want to go 12-0 this year.”
Because the Clippers come to the gym dressed to play due to COVID-19 concerns, they’re not using the locker room and Bomboy misses that pregame time “when we get hyped.” That wasn’t a problem when the Clippers took to the court Thursday.
Bomboy was aggressive to the basket in scoring four points as the Clippers moved out to 13-4 lead after a quarter. Her 3-pointer and baskets by Zariia America and Gibson pushed the margin to 22-6.
Taylor Harris (eight points) and the Falcons made a couple of second-half runs to cut the deficit to six points. But the Clippers used balanced scoring — led by Gibson (12 points), America (12), Bomboy (nine) and Maesyn Blaylock (nine) — and their trapping defense to make their return to the home gym a celebration.
“I like the atmosphere of playing here again,” Gibson said. “There are some things we can improve on, like our defensive rotations and taking better looks at the basket, but it feels really good to be back.”
Parker said, “To me it’s just different when you play in your own building, on your own floor. It’s special.”