COMING HOME
Nicole Clarke to join Cougars basketball team.
Nicole Clarke is coming home to her second home.
The Regina-born Clarke, who spent four seasons with the University of Alberta Pandas, is to join the University of Regina Cougars women’s basketball team for the 2013-14 season.
Clarke was raised in Regina, but she and her family moved to Calgary in 2005 after Nicole’s Grade 9 year at LeBoldus High School.
She spent her Grade 12 year at the National Elite Development Academy in Hamilton and then joined the Pandas in 2008.
Having taken the 2012-13 campaign off to get healthy, the 5-foot-11 guard was looking to play her final season of CIS eligibility at a different Canada West school — and she picked Regina.
“It’s always been a huge basketball community and I grew up playing club (with the Hornets) and community (in the RCBA) there,” Clarke, 22, said Thursday. “It’s kind of always been my second home for basketball.
“It’ll be fun to play in front of that crowd again, play under Dave (Taylor, the Cougars’ head coach) and play in front of family and friends. That’s what I’m looking forward to.”
The Cougars were among the teams that initially recruited Clarke, but she settled on Alberta because she had played for Pandas head coach Scott Edwards on the Alberta provincial team and also because the U of A had a good science program.
Over her four seasons in Edmonton, Clarke averaged 13.2 points per game (good for fifth on the Pandas’ alltime list for career scoring average) and shot 84.4 per cent from the free-throw line (the best such number in school history).
But Clarke — who was named Canada West’s top rookie after the 2008-09 season and a second-team conference all-star in ’11-12 — also was troubled by foot problems, which limited her to 10 games in her second season and 15 in her third.
After sitting out the ’12-13 season to recuperate from the second of three surgeries she has had — and after getting a clean bill of health — Clarke decided she needed to make a change in her basketball career.
“My degree is done here and Regina is a familiar place for me,” said Clarke, who plans to take classes at the U of R to help her prepare for medical school. “I have lots of family and friends in Regina and I know Dave really well. I knew it would be an easy transition.”
For Taylor, Clarke’s addition will help soften the blow of the graduations of three players (Lindsay Ledingham, Brittany Read and Danielle Schmidt) and the losses of two others who aren’t likely to return next season (Michelle Clark and Nicisha Johnson).
“Nicole instantly adds scoring,” Taylor said.
“She’s been one of the top scorers in Canada West and a Canada West all-star. She can come in and have an impact right away.”
Clarke believes she can do that in more ways than one.
“Talent-wise, I’d say I can be a high-impact player, but leadership-wise, I’d say I bring a lot to the team,” she said.
“I’m a very competitive player. I’m always not only pushing myself but I look to push my teammates, too.
“I think that’d be a pretty important thing from a coach’s point of view for a transfer player coming in and for one of the older girls on the team.”
One of the questions, though, pertains to her health.
Clarke has dealt with seven years of foot and ankle injuries, including three fractures of her left foot. Surgeries have been done to insert a pin in the foot, to have torn ligaments addressed, and to have bones in her foot shaved down.
But Clarke believes her injuries are in the past.
“With this last surgery (in February), I’ve almost got full range of motion back in my ankle, which I haven’t had for probably five years,” Clarke said.
“Right now, it’s looking really good for my foot.”
And that could be good news for the Cougars.
“If she can play, she’s going to help us tremendously,” Taylor said.
“The year off (that Clarke took) will help a lot. Sure, there’s a chance (of re-injury), but there’s also high reward here, too.”
ihamilton@leaderpost.com