If basketball is a microcosm for life – the highs and the lows – then Marsha (Houff) Justice has certainly encountered a wide range of emotions in her coaching career.
A graduate of Fort Defiance High School who played one year of basketball at Liberty University in 1991-1992, Justice was an assistant at Bridgewater College under three head coaches: Sarah Mathews, Jason Asbell and the current leader, Stephanie Flamini.
Mathews is now the coach at Guilford, while Flamini, with 421 career wins, is the former mentor at the same school.
The last day at Bridgewater for Justice was on Oct. 30, 2025 – also the day that Asbell lost his battle for cancer at the age of 54. After coaching the Eagles, he became an assistant coach at Division I Colgate, and he passed away in upstate New York.
Asbell grew up in Williamsburg and coached high school basketball there before coming to Bridgewater.
“Jason was the person who really talked me into college coaching,” Justice wrote to the AFP. “He was an assistant for Sarah at the time. I had a support role with the Bridgewater women’s basketball team, serving as a character coach through Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Jason was in my ear for months saying, ‘Why don’t you think about coaching?’ College coaching was not something I had on my radar.”
After serving under three coaches in three years at BC, Justice was not on the sidelines for the 2025-2026 campaign. She will return to the bench this coming season at EMU under new head coach, Tori Jankoska, a former University of Virginia assistant who was drafted out of Michigan State by the WNBA and played one year of pro ball in Poland.
Getting the chance to work under Jankoska lulled Justice, the mother of three adult women, back to the bench.
Her husband, Clayton, played basketball at Harrisonburg High.
Time away
“My mom passed away in 2023. I was navigating some health challenges, wasn’t sleeping well, my husband was wrapping up 27 years in law enforcement, and let’s just say, my own kids needed their mom back,” she wrote. “One of my children said, ‘Mom, I know you love coaching, but it’s been nice for us to have you back.’ There was a lot happening personally, and I hadn’t really given myself the time or space to process it all and fully be there for my family.”
Justice met informally with Jankoska after she was named the EMU head coach in July. The former University of Maryland staff member takes over for ex-Luray High School and Bridgewater hoops star Jen Logan Posey, who guided the Lady Royals for eight seasons.
“Then things opened up at EMU,” Justice noted. “It would have taken the right person and the right situation to make me want to jump back in. As a lifelong basketball fan, when someone with Tori’s resume – D-I player, D-I coach, WNBA experience, and professional experience overseas – shows up in your own backyard, I’d be crazy not to at least have a conversation. We met for coffee this past summer in a very informal setting, just getting to know each other and talking ball.”
“When it came time to have a more formal conversation about joining her staff as an assistant, my mindset wasn’t, ‘I need to roll out the red carpet and do everything I can to get this.’ It was more, ‘This is who I am. This is what I can bring to the table.’ I knew it needed to be the right fit between what she needed and what I offered. The opportunity to work alongside someone of Tori’s caliber, both as a player and as a coach, was simply too good to pass up. I really consider it a chance of a lifetime,” Justice added.
EMU is 36-66 overall in the last four seasons, while Bridgewater is 79-26 during that time.
“Coaching at EMU is going to be different, and that’s something I had to take some time to think and about,” Justice noted. “I spent a lot of time talking with my family, peers, and friends about the opportunity. One of the best pieces of advice I received was, ‘Don’t rush through this year looking for more wins. Instead, embrace this process. Embrace the young ladies in front of you.’ Ultimately, that’s what I want to do. I’m not just up for the challenge; I’m embracing the opportunity. There’s something really exciting about being part of the groundwork of turning a program into something new and taking on the challenge of helping build something.”
Justice graduated from Liberty with a bachelor’s degree in youth ministry. Along with her collegiate experience, Justice also has coaching experience at the prep and AAU levels. One daughter, Mariah, was a member of the Spotswood hoops team that won a state title in 2019.
“I am incredibly excited to welcome Marsha to our EMU Women’s Basketball family,” Jankoska stated on the school website. “Marsha brings a wealth of coaching experience and has been part of successful programs throughout the ODAC. She brings a strong understanding of recruiting, player development, academics, and the day-to-day work that goes into building a successful program. Just as importantly, Marsha is a relationship builder who connects naturally with student-athletes and families and brings invaluable knowledge of the area. We are fortunate to have her on our staff, and I am excited about the experience, energy, perspective, and character she will bring to our program and our student-athletes both on and off the court.”
Fort Defiance days
Justice played at Fort Defiance under Judy Bonin and also learned a lot from AAU coach and trainer Bill Hale, the former boys coach at Fort, who also was an assistant at EMU for the men’s program once ex-head coach Tom Baker brought him on board.
“A huge influence on me,” Justice noted of Hale, the former head coach at Stuarts Draft who played in college at Emory & Henry.
She attracted interest from the basketball programs at Virginia and JMU while in high school.
“Interestingly, I was actually a more accomplished tennis player in high school than I was a basketball player. I probably had more natural talent in tennis, but my passion has always been basketball. The basketball court has always been my happy place,” Justice wrote.
Her time at Bridgewater was challenging.
The pandemic wiped out the 2020-2021 season, then on Feb. 1, 2022, campus police officer John Painter and campus safety officer Vashon Jefferson were shot and killed on campus by a lone gunman, who was apprehended later that day.
“There is no playbook” for dealing with that situation, she noted.
Justice will be reunited at EMU with Grace Burke, who began her college career with the Eagles before transferring to Park View.
“We spent a year there together. Grace was injured for much of that season, so I didn’t get to see a lot of her on-court performance. I did see enough to know Grace is a pure shooter. You don’t have to coach Grace long to know she likes to put the ball up,” Justice noted of the Stephens City product, who starred at Sherando High School.
It is a new start as well for Justice.
“Honestly, I thought my college coaching career was over,” she noted.
Now there is a new beginning.
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David Driver
