Saints injuries allow Curtis to get physical

As if freshman year of college basketball isn’t tough enough, try adding on playing a position you’re not built for.

Due to injuries, Saints freshman guard Nyah Curtis is in that spot right now. She stands at just 5 feet 8 inches, but she’s taking on the load of playing down low right now for Mt. Hood.

The Saints have just seven healthy players, while four are down with an assortment of injures. Two of them are their main post players, Allison Primeau and Katlin Farris. The other two are guards Alexa Mulford and Chloe Cummins.

Without Primeau or Farris, the Saints have looked to Curtis to take over the post position.

Head coach John Hawley expressed the importance of Curtis to the team.

“Nyah is definitely playing out of position,” Hawley said. “She’s not a five (a center/post)… really not a four (power forward), either. But she’s having to play both of those positions for us this year.

“She’s accepted that, and hasn’t complained about it. She’s learning those positions and is playing the three (small forward) for us, as well,” he said. He praised her for how well she’s dealing with the challenge. “In practice, she’s always engaged, always wanting to learn and being positive for her teammates.”

Fortunately, this isn’t anything new for Curtis.

She grew up in Northern California and has been playing basketball since before kindergarten. Her aunt, Sage Romberg, has played a large role in helping her learn the game. With her aunt being just six years older than her, she’s always aspired to play just like her. And for good reason: Her aunt received a full-ride scholarship to play at Washington State and then played two years in Spain as a 6-foot forward.

Because of that, Curtis learned the game from a post’s perspective. Due to her height, she’s always been considered a wing. But she found herself playing forward a lot at Arcata High School, because her team was well stacked with guards.

And that was okay with her; actually she preferred it. For Curtis, the game of basketball isn’t about how much you score, but how hard you get to work. And she finds that when she gets inside the post she has to work harder and get physical, just the way she likes it.

Curtis laughs that her size can definitely hurt her, playing inside. “It can be tough, I can get bounced off of some pretty big girls, sometimes,” she said. But she added, “I’ve always been one of the more aggressive players… and I know the physicality isn’t anything I can’t handle.”

Despite her passion to work hard down low, her numbers don’t necessarily jump out at you as being dominant. She’s averaging just shy of four rebounds per game, and under five points. But over the past five games she’s averaging seven rebounds, and six points. And Wednesday, she scored a season-high 14 points in a tough 60-55 loss to Chemeketa.

Curtis knows she isn’t a stat machine, but she brings something else to the court: heart. She says,“I like to play defense and bring energy to the floor. I just love to play, to run up and down the court, no matter what.”

And as the Mt. Hood women struggle to deal with injuries, Curtis has taken on a role not many 5-foot 8-inch girls have.  But she’s taking it as a challenge, which is one of the things she loves about basketball. “The best part of basketball is getting to be competitive, and it brings out my motivation,” she says.

Because of how much she enjoys being physical, she said if she could be any position on the court it would be post. But she adds a stipulation: “If I could chose, and I was five inches taller I’d be a post.”

Right now she’s enjoying the opportunity, but knows it isn’t the long-term plan. She says, “I’ll take this time to be aggressive.” With that, she expects to be a wing next year for Mt. Hood.

Until then, it’s just motivating to watch an athlete work as hard as she can in an unfair situation.

The next time to see Curtis battle on the court is Saturday, in Roseburg. The Saints face off at Umpqua Community College at 2 p.m., hoping to break their nine-game losing streak.