Friday, January 12, 2018

Coach AnnMarie Gilbert has Virginia Union women soaring again ...Panthers at 14-1

RICHMOND, Virginia -- AnnMarie Gilbert has admittedly high standards when it comes to success for her women’s basketball team at Virginia Union.

Anything more than five losses in a season would qualify as a big disappointment for the third-year coach, and it’s a dilemma the Panthers have yet to face under Gilbert’s direction. Virginia Union lost three games in 2015-16 and registered its fifth loss of the season last year in the NCAA championship game against Ashland to finish 28-5.

But the team Gilbert is fielding this season is different.



Long gone are Kiana Johnson, who was national player of the year two seasons ago, as well as Lady Walker and Brittany Jackson, two stalwarts of last season’s national runner-up team. Gilbert said she thought, “Do you have enough to continue to perform at the national level?”

The internal fears of not having enough talent were compounded when the Panthers, ranked second nationally in the preseason, dropped their first game of the season on a neutral floor to Edinboro University. But with 14 straight wins since that loss to the now-No. 14 Fighting Scots, those fears are beginning to appear unfounded.

“(Edinboro) cracked us that first game, and you’re sitting there wondering, ‘Where is Virginia Union? What is our identity? Are we still a national contender?’ ” Gilbert said.

“For them to rattle off 14 games in a row — pretty decisively — is really impressive because it’s a totally new group.”



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