Elizabeth City State’s basketball teams have taken different paths to tonight’s Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association opener.

The men’s team struggled through a couple of losses before Christmas then had to wait nearly three weeks for tonight’s game at Livingstone.

The Lady Vikings (6-4) have played well, but injuries are starting to mount and they will be without leading scorer Shatara Jackson for an undetermined amount of time and could also be without third-leading scorer Jasmine Whitehurst against the Lady Blue Bears tonight.

Jackson suffered a torn miniscus in her right knee and a bone bruise when she fell after bumping with an opposing player while driving for a layup in the late stages of a 62-55 win over Maryland Eastern Shore on Monday. Whitehurst was also injured in that game when she hit her head on the floor. Though she returned to the game and led the team in scoring with 15 points, she was later diagnosed with a mild concussion and will be a game-time decision tonight.

No one is quite sure how long Jackson will be out. ECSU women’s coach Alico Dunk only knows that it will be indefinitely.

Meanwhile, Dunk said the team will err on the side of caution when determining Whitehurst’s availability.

“It’s a possibility she may be back (tonight) depending on how she feels and if she passes the concussion test,” Dunk said. “We’re definitely going to monitor that closely. If I don’t feel like she can go, I’m not going to let her go.

“I am game planning for her not to play, just to be on the safe side, If she is able to play, that’s a plus because it gives us another body and a quality player.”

Now without two of their top players, the Lady Vikings’ already short bench has shrunk even more.

In two practices leading up to tonight’s game, ECSU dressed just eight players and utilized assistant coaches, team managers and even the video crew to hold spots on the court as Dunk went through the scouting report.

“It’s tough, but that’s the game of basketball — you get injuries,” Dunk said. “People just have to step up and be ready to go.”

Dunk concedes that he might have to use timeouts in an effort to give his team some breaks, but he said the Lady Vikings will not be changing their style despite the thin roster.

“For the most part, we’re going to do what we do,” Dunk said.

ECSU’s men, though, are relatively healthy after a 19-day layoff. Coach Shawn Walker gave the Vikings (6-4) 11 days off following a 67-61 loss to Lenoir-Rhyne on Dec. 17, their third defeat in four games heading into the break.

While that allowed the team to get over some nagging injuries, conditioning was an issue upon their return.

“It tough when you take off one or two days. Players are not like they used to be and go home and work out and play ball,” Walker said. “After the break, they were tired and gassed out, but I think we’re revitalized now and ready to move into the rest of the year.”

The big injury concern was with senior guard Marquie Cooke, who was battling through a broken bone in his shooting as well as being diagnosed as acid reflux. The time off helped Cooke and Walker is confident the Suffolk, Va., native will be fine going forward.

“Of course, Marquie is Marquie. He’s good to go,” Walker said. “For the most part we’re healthy. We’re no worse off than anyone else.”

Walker was most concerned about his team’s consistency, especially on the road where the Vikings are 2-3 with all three losses coming by a combined 12 points.

“We’ve played a very, very tough nonconference schedule,” Walker said. “We’ve had some tremendously high moments in beating Norfolk State and USC Aiken. But losing to Aiken on the road (after leading by 12 with 4:44 to play) and losing to UDC were really down moments. So the jury is still deliberating on us. We do not have quality road wins, except for Norfolk State, but I have some concerns about what I have seen from our team thus far. We can beat anybody in the country, I believe, when we’re playing well, and we can lose to anybody in the country when we’re playing really bad.”

So, Walker is feeling a little uneasy that ECSU begins its conference slate with three road games in five days, though not about the short turnaround between games.

“That is why this is an important week for us,” Walker said. “Three games in five days, that doesn’t bother me at all. As coaches, we just have to keep us as focused as possible and try to find us a road win.”

After tonight’s game at Livingstone, ECSU heads to Charlotte to take on Johnson C. Smith on Saturday, then to Fayetteville for a doubleheader with Fayetteville State on Monday. ECSU will be back at home on Jan. 14 when the men and women host Winston-Salem State.