By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

As usual, Nadia Lough was having a great game.

Baseline to baseline.

Sideline to sideline.

Offense to defense.

It was all clicking for the Rootstown senior girls basketball standout during the team’s last game of the last day at the Eastern Ohio Team Camp in Sherrodsville.

It only took the blink of an eye, unfortunately, for things to suddenly be unusual.

After a steal, Lough broke down the court on transition and went to attack the basket and her defender with a eurostep on the left side of the key.

Her momentum shifted to her opposite leg and at the moment that she went to explode up for her shot, there was nothing there.

Her leg gave out and she fell to the floor.

Nadia Lough burst onto the scene as a freshman phenom for the Rootstown girls basketball program and has continued to grow as a player throughout her career. She was tested most mentally when she tore the ACL in her left knee during the off-season, but worked relentlessly to rehab and returned ahead of schedule.
Shannon Eldreth/Special to Portage Sports

Not violently, but awkwardly, and for a split-second, Lough said she experienced the worst pain she had ever felt.

A second later, that same pain was gone and Lough was optimistic.

“I didn’t hear a pop or anything, so once that pain came and went so quickly, I thought I was fine. I was set on the fact that I just strained something, and I would be back on the court soon,” Lough said.

Inside that same immediate moment, Rootstown girls basketball head coach Joe Leonard’s heart told him a different story.

“I knew immediately that it was serious,” he said. “The energy of the team shifted immediately, too.”

Lough said things became real to her after her MRI, which was conducted about 2 weeks after the initial injury and revealed a torn ACL in her left knee.

Surgery was then set for July 15.

And as much as that was a day to move forward in a positive direction for Lough in her recovery, a starting line of sorts, it was also a day that dropped depression on the Rovers’ four-year starter and leader.

“Everything just hit me after the surgery. It hit me hard,” Lough said. “I had been emotional about the injury before the surgery, but after, I couldn’t work, walk or do anything much, really. I was constrained to one area and that is not me. It has never been me. I have always wanted to be everywhere and do everything.”

So when her mother told her that going to watch her team’s open gym less than 24 hours after surgery was not a good idea, and that she should let her body rest, the strong-willed Lough experienced her first real breaking point.

“I wanted to go just so that I could be around my team. I wanted to be around them and see their smiles. I wanted things to be normal,” Lough said. “It felt like everything around me was falling apart and it was the first time I realized that it was going to be a long, very long, road back both physically and mentally. I just wanted to do what I love, be around the people I love and do the things I enjoy.”

Nadia Lough embraces a leaping Addy Germann immediately after scoring the 1,000th point of her career against Warren John F. Kennedy on Jan. 8.
Shannon Eldreth/Special to Portage Sports

The difficult road to recovery had officially begun.

But for those closest to Lough, they all knew the typical timeline to a full recovery would not be Lough’s timeline.

Her coaches, teammates and friends all describe her as hard working, determined and stubborn in a positive way, meaning that the timeline to return to the court would simply be the next opponent and Lough would find a way to win.

True to form, Lough worked relentlessly and returned to the court sooner than expected.

She played in her first game on the Rovers’ ninth game of the season on Dec. 28 at Southeast.

Lough was placed on a minutes restriction, but she still made the same big impact all have become accustomed to. She scored 15 points and had 15 rebounds to guide her Rovers to a commanding 63-28 win over the Pirates.

Eleven days later, Lough became the ninth player in school history to score 1,000 career points.

A month after that, the Rovers cut down the nets to celebrate the program’s fourth consecutive Portage Trail Conference championship.

The emotions were back for Lough.

This time, though, they came from the perspective that has become synonymous with her name during her illustrious career.

“Nadia is a special player and person. She has meant so much to this school, team and community,” Rootstown girls basketball head coach Joe Leonard said. “Her impact goes beyond just playing. She has been a youth coach for us for years. She enjoys coaching and giving back to our youth and they love her for that. With Nadia, it has never been about her wanting more touches or more points, she just wants to win and celebrate with her team and friends.”

Meanwhile, her teammates have had plenty to celebrate for her.

The four-year starter has left her name across the program record books, ranking top 10 in scoring and top five in nine different categories, including steals, defensive rebounds, offensive rebounds, total rebounds, assists, free-throws attempted, free-throws made, field-goals attempted and field-goals made.

All while the Rovers have won four titles and totaled 78 wins during Lough’s career.

On top of all the numbers, Lough stands alone in leadership.

“When things are not going well in practice, or we are struggling, I tell the team to circle up right now around Nadia and fix this,” Leonard said. “She takes the lead, speaks to the team and resolves the issue.”

She is the player that acts as the connective tissue to the team, but she is also the player who isn’t ready to take the credit for anything.

“One thing is for sure, I couldn’t have done anything by myself,” Lough said. “I had constant support from my physical therapists, our coaches, my teammates, family and everyone around me. Everyone was so confident in me and when someone has confidence in you, you have more for yourself. It was so uplifting and it made it that it was almost impossible to not believe in myself. What kept me going, what kept me motivated, was that my return from the injury was not going to be about me. I wanted to do it for everyone who was around me.”

Which is why her legacy goes beyond the numbers and has created a culture that will impact the program for many years to come.

For Lough, that is the usual.