I first met Nia Jackson two years ago. She was redshirting after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee during the Oregon women’s basketball team’s exhibition trip to Italy. The intrepid reporter who I was back then found her recovery an interesting and worthy story.
The Ducks had New Zealand Olympian Micaela Cocks as the starting point guard and a freshman, Darriel Gaynor, as the backup. Jackson was in no rush to return from the injury and was assured of time to develop her all-around game.
When I first spoke with her, she was shy but polite and candid. She was not afraid to express her concerns with her left knee. At this point in Jackson’s career, her game was predicated on speed and slashing ability — would all of it come back?
Of course, Jackson kept to her rehabilitation schedule, and we have come a long way with knee ligament injuries in sports. Still, the transformation from a green, athletic backup to a potential Pacific-10 Conference honorable mention player is quite impressive.
Jackson gained some confidence last season when head coach Paul Westhead installed her as his starting point guard, leading the fastbreak charge down the court. With Cocks and Taylor Lilley as primary options, Jackson was often forgotten about until she made shots over defenders’ heads. The confidence in her shot began to grow.
This season, Jackson is the Pac-10’s leading scorer (17.0 points per game) and assist-maker (5.7 per game). Her pressure on the inbounds pass recipient in Westhead’s full-court press is notorious; she is third in the conference with 2.57 steals per game. Opposing teams are keying on her, trying to stanch the flow of the fastbreak offense by pressuring her. It has seldom worked.
With improved statistics comes increased media attention. Jackson, the daughter of a pastor, remains polite, often beginning her press conferences with a “Hello.” She stands taller and more comfortably, speaking into microphones and voice recorders, her movements captured by television cameras.
Lilley and Cocks have graduated, and Jackson has amicably joined up with Amanda Johnson to form the team’s vocal and inspirational leadership. Still, the importance of Nia Jackson was never fully measured until this past weekend.
Jackson has missed the last three games due to knee strains (with no tearing, she’s happy to note). Oregon has lost all three and is now on a six-game skid. The Ducks are ninth in the Pac-10, ahead of only Oregon State, and the Civil War on Saturday has assumed the feel of a must-win contest.
Freshman Ariel Thomas has stepped up as a starter, scoring a career-high 19 points against Washington State and a team-high 16 points against USC.
“She’s awesome,” Jackson said last week. “I was very proud of her performance (against the Cougars). She’s a great player and she showed it every day in practice. She’s learning pretty fast this year.”
Jackson gave Thomas a pep talk before the Washington State game, giving her some pointers about how to run the fastbreak offense and what to expect. Thomas is learning in a hurry that, in Westhead’s offense, fast is not fast enough.
Right now, the Ducks are going kind of slow.
Jackson is doing everything within her power to help regain that team speed. Until her knee injuries subside, that must occur from the sidelines.
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Husseman: Jackson’s breakthrough season marred by injuries
Daily Emerald
February 13, 2011
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