By Avanti Chajed

Gargoyle staff reporter


Posted Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2007, The OG, features & girls basketball & sports

Samantha Nguyen leads Uni last year against

Donovan. (Gargoyle photo) (click to enlarge)

THE LOSS OF point guard Samantha Nguyen just one game into the 2006-07 season was no small matter for the Uni girls varsity basketball team.

On Nov. 16, in the midst of leading the Illineks to a 37-35 win over Atwood-Hammond in Uni's season opener, the junior suffered a knee injury. During Thanksgiving week Nguyen found out she had torn her left anterior cruciate ligament.

“I was sort of in shock,” she says. “But after that wore off everything was just really sad because I realized that I wouldn't be able to do anything other than walk for at least most of the rest of the year. The ACL is one of the ligaments that holds the knee together. If it's ripped or gone or anything, then a person can have a limited amount of mobility.”

The injury put her on the bench for the rest of the season, which hasn't been easy.

“It's like that saying, ‘You don't know what you've got until it's gone,' ” she says. “As much as I try to stay positive and encourage my teammates, it still hurts at games or even practices sometimes because it just hits me that I'm not able play, or even do anything other than walk.”

Still, Nguyen thinks she is starting to accept her injury more than she did at first. She looks on the positive side: “I'm just really glad that it didn't happen next year when I would've had to miss most of my senior season.”

What Nguyen especially misses is playing with her teammates. Though she can't be with them on the court, hanging out with them is one of her favorite things about playing basketball.

To fix her ACL, Nguyen underwent surgery Dec. 13 and will have to go through physical therapy for a few months. She won't be able to get back on the court for six months, but she plans on participating in the team's summer basketball camp and running to keep in shape.

In the meantime Nguyen has other things to do besides cheering her team on. She has many interests, which range from sports to music. Throughout her Uni career, Nguyen has been a key member of the cross-country and track teams.

Though she can't participate in track this spring, she will be able to run cross country next season as she and her teammates try to improve on their 2006 fourth-place finish at the IHSA Class A state finals.

Picking her favorite sport between basketball and running isn't an easy choice for Nguyen.

“I really love sports in general,” she says.

The two sports complement each other, in her view. “Running helps me in basketball and basketball helps me with sprinting,” she explains.

An accomplished musician, Nguyen has played violin for 12 years, including three years in the Uni orchestra. Though she couldn't participate this year due to a full schedule, she joined the East Central Illinois Youth Orchestra and enjoys performing in it with other kids her age.

Nguyen says her parents have tried to give her the best opportunities they can.

“They came from Vietnam, so they didn't have a lot, so they want me to have everything they didn't have,” she says.

Her parents are also supportive and push her academically, but most of Nguyen's drive in athletics comes from herself.

Nguyen runs hard during Uni's Class A

girls cross-country regional victory this fall.

(Gargoyle photo) (click to enlarge)

“My dad was a soccer player and he's really athletic, and my uncle played basketball, so it kind of motivates me because I want to be just as good as them,” she says. “They kind of make me want to motivate myself.”

Her two younger brothers, Christopher, 12, and Andrew, 9, are just as athletic. Both of them play soccer, and Christopher also plays hockey. Nguyen gets along with her brothers, and they do various activities such as biking and soccer together.

Nguyen isn't sure what she wants to do after college. One possibility she's considered is a career as a physical therapist. Whatever she does, though, she knows she wants to help people.

As for basketball beyond Uni: “I'll end up playing intramural if I do keep playing in college,” she says.

Currently the team is back into the flow of things after going through a period of adjustment without Nguyen, whom the team had counted on as its floor leader.

“In the beginning [of the season] we were flustered,” says head coach Rebecca Murphy.

Junior guard Aran Yoo agrees. “The transition was hard because we lost the point-guard leadership [that Sam provided],” she says.

But both Yoo and Murphy say the team has gotten used to playing different positions, and Murphy thinks Yoo and her fellow guard, junior Sarah Pfander, play well together.

After dropping six straight games in late November and early December, the Illineks are now 9-9 overall and 5-2 in the East Central Illinois Conference. They've already exceeded last year's total of 8 wins, and they're on pace to outshine their 2005-06 conference record of 5-5.

Though Nguyen won't be on the court with her teammates the rest of the winter, it seems they won't disappoint her, and she can look forward to a promising season next year.