Injury news is never a pleasant thing to discuss. And on Tuesday morning, prior to recording a new episode of the Straight Outta WAC podcast, Stephen F. Austin women’s basketball coach Mark Kellogg shared some injury news with WAC Hoops Digest.
WAC Tournament MVP Zya Nugent has suffered a season-ending knee injury.
“Every thought you could possibly imagine goes through your mind,” Kellogg said. “The hurt for her, the hurt for us. And you go through that kind of coping. Probably losing a loved one. It’s everyone of those. You’re sad and frustrated you feel terrible for the kid.”
Nugent was the third-leading scorer for the Ladyjacks in 2021-22. Along with averaging 12.9 points, Nugent also pulled down 5.1 rebounds while starting 30 of 31 games for SFA.
In SFA’s first game at the WAC Tournament, Nugent went for 22 points against Utah Valley. Against GCU in the WAC title game, Nugent had 20 points and 12 rebounds against GCU.
And in SFA’s first round NCAA Tournament loss to North Carolina, Nugent went for a cool 26 points and knocked down 5 3-pointers.
WAC Tournament MVP Zya Nugent will miss the entire 2022-23 season after suffering a season-ending knee injury. Courtesy Western Athletic Conference.“She’s a lot of the heart and soul. When it came to the big games, she always wanted the big shot. It’s not Zya’s 12 or 13 points necessarily. It’s all the extra stuff that she brought to the table and the experience she has.”
Nugent has started in 57 games since stepping on campus in 2019. The scoring punch has improved from 9.0 points as a freshman to 12.9 points as a junior.
In some fortunate news, Nugent will be able to get the year back because the injury happened without SFA playing a game. In addition to that, Mark Kellogg went on to say that Nugent will become a player-assistant in 2022-23, perhaps making her even more knowledgable as a player when she returns.
The Ladyjacks are set to open the 2022-23 season at home when they host the UTSA Roadrunners on Nov. 7.
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