After playing the first month of the season without arguably the top public school girls' basketball player in the county, Eleanor Roosevelt expects to have center Selena Nwude back this week. Nwude sustained a high sprain of her right ankle during fall volleyball season and has yet to play basketball this season. There was a chance she might have played last week in the IAABO Invitational, but the 6-foot-5 junior had to travel to Nigeria because of family obligations, Raiders Coach Rod Hairston said.
"I definitely think [her return] is going to make a big difference," said Hairston, whose team played Largo last night and hosts Northwestern on Friday. "I would think having a 6-5 kid in the middle that can catch and run and alter shots will make a difference. But I don't want to put too much pressure on her to come back and save our season. They've got to save themselves as a team. Not that the season is lost, but we've lost three games already. We only lost [five] last year."
Without Nwude, who averaged 10.6 points last season, Eleanor Roosevelt went 5-3 with forwards Kemi Awe and Nichele Derrickson carrying much of the load inside. Hairston said that sophomore LaKeisha Wright, a 5-10 guard-forward who averaged 19.2 points last season for Queen Anne, also has played well.
"I think it will give Selena some help, especially in the area of rebounding, where a lot of times she has had to do it herself," Hairston said. "Now they understand, it has to be a team thing."
One boys' team hoping to get a similar boost is Douglass, which should add junior center Clifford Dixon to its lineup this week. After being academically ineligible for the second quarter, the 6-foot-8 Dixon has begun practicing with the Eagles and is eligible to make his season debut on Friday at Central. Dixon averaged 11.3 points last season, but missed the second half after becoming academically ineligible.
"If we can get a big man to step up, that's when we can start looking to do things," said Douglass Coach Lloyd Bryant, whose team was 6-2 entering Tuesday's game against Bladensburg. Having Dixon "changes a lot."
-- JOSH BARR
