Coultas not looking back
Posted on Wednesday, July 9, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/rhtn/Sports/4109/
More than four months after her sophomore basketball season ended in a Conway emergency room, Rogers forward Jazmin Coultas still can’t recall what happened or why it happened.
It’s not important that she does.
“ I don’t remember being in the locker room at halftime, ” Coultas says. “ I just remember coming out and not really knowing what I was doing. A couple of girls had to tell me what was going on and then I just don’t remember what happened. I remember waking up with IVs in my arm. ”
“ But now I’m good and that’s all that matters. I’m good. ”
Discussing the events from last year’s final game is a little uneasy for Coultas, but she says confidently there are no lasting effects from the scary scene at the Class 7 A State Basketball Tournament.
Coultas, one of five returning starters, is among several Lady Mounties who coached at the annual Lady Mountaineer Basketball Camp put on by head coach Preston Early at Rogers High School.
There were more than 130 campers in grades K through 7 at this year’s event.
“ I have so much fun with the little kids and just all of this, ” says Coultas, who averaged 5 points and 4 rebounds per game last season. “ We all had a lot of fun. ”
There was no one having fun Feb. 29 at Conway High School The Lady Mounties saw their season end and saw one of their teammates taken from the court on a stretcher.
“ But I pointed at ’em when I was going out, ” Coultas says, just before smiling.
Coultas collapsed upon returning to the court to begin the second half of the Lady Mounties ’ 59-47 loss to Conway in the state quarterfinals.
She took a shot to the head during the first half, diving for a loose ball. It was a non-event at the time of the play.
Paramedics, trainers and other officials tended to Coultas for approximately 20 minutes just in front of the Rogers bench. It was not an easy 20 minutes.
Coultas, at times, went into convulsions, prompting both teams to be quickly ushered away from their halftime warmups and sent back to their respective locker rooms.
“ It’s scary when you see somebody you care about and you don’t know what’s wrong with ’em, ” Early says. “ We were all worried about her but we just kept telling our players she’s going to be OK … and I really didn’t know. It wasn’t that I was lying I was just trying to reassure ’em. I could see our guys were really worried. ”
Coultas was taken to a local hospital. A CT scan there ruled out the possibility of a concussion and she was released the same night.
Two weeks passed before Coultas stopped having headaches and after more follow-up examinations she was allowed to return to basketball activities. That was just in time for her to join the Lady Mounties at the start of their 10-week offseason program in the spring.
Since then Coultas has assumed an important leadership role, doing everything possible to help the Lady Mounties enjoy another successful season.
Instead of just getting by with existing talent, Early says Coultas has committed to becoming a more versatile player from all areas of the court.
“ You get different levels of commitment with players in your (team ), ” Early says. “ That’s just the life of having a team. Jazmin sets the bar for us. When you watch her play she has such a high energy level and she puts a lot of physical energy into the weight training and the conditioning.
“ You get out of it what you put into it and she is going to make sure she gets something out of it this offseason. ”