Hilbert’s star shining
bright for UCLA
Freshman-year injury sidelined guard, motivated her to rebound
powerfully
By Emmanuelle Ejercito
Daily Bruin Staff
For now, the basketball court is Nickey Hilbert’s venue, but one
day the UCLA junior hopes to perform on another stage.
"I would love to go into acting," Hilbert said. "All my
teammates think that I should, and my mom wanted me to do theater,
but I love acting. Once I am done (with basketball), I want to get
into it right away."
Said Hilbert’s uncle Frank Stevens, an academic coordinator for
the UCLA athletic department: "I always thought that Nickey would
go into the theater arts because of the personality that she has.
She’s always upbeat, happy-go-lucky; she seems to always make
something positive out of a negative situation. She is very
outgoing. The love of her life would be Jim Carrey. He is her
dream-come-true kind of guy."
When Hilbert speaks, words come out rapidly, her hands flail and
a grin streaks across her face. She gives the impression that she
was born to talk. But a metamorphosis occurs the moment Hilbert
steps onto the court. Hilbert is intense and her face is stern as
she prepares to bring down the opposition.
Hilbert is enjoying a record-breaking season for the Bruins. The
junior guard set new career highs against three tough Pacific 10
opponents – Washington, Stanford and Arizona State – and already
surpassed last year’s career high of 19 points five times this
season, including a 33-point outing against the Sun Devils.
"She has a lot of confidence; she is one year older and she
plays like it," UCLA head coach Kathy Olivier said. "She’s not just
an athlete anymore, she’s a basketball player."
Hilbert attributes her success to her hard work in the
off-season and to a knee injury that forced her to redshirt her
freshman year.
On the last day of fall quarter 1992, Hilbert’s knee gave out
when she pivoted wrong during practice. Doctors discovered that she
had torn her anterior cruciate ligament and would be out for nine
months.
"When (the doctor) said nine months that is all I heard,"
Hilbert said. "I came from high school; for four years no injuries
… I get to UCLA and everybody in my family is so proud of me, and
I get injured two games into the season."
As it turns out, the injury may have been a blessing in disguise
for both Hilbert and the UCLA women’s basketball team. The view
from sitting on the bench gave Hilbert a new perspective.
"While I was sitting on the side, I’m thinking to myself that
you don’t realize that you’re able to run … jump and shoot,"
Hilbert said. "So when I came back I think watching what I couldn’t
do was more fire for me to go out and work hard whenever I got the
chance.
"If I hadn’t injured myself, this would be my last year. I
wouldn’t have another chance to play basketball in my life."
And basketball is a game that has been a large part of Hilbert’s
life since the eighth grade when she stumbled upon the sport. One
day during lunch at Newcomb Junior High in Long Beach, Hilbert
somehow decided to shoot hoops with some guys in her class. Then
she started to play before school and during the summer she was in
the gym everyday playing ball.
"I think that I am very critical of myself," Hilbert said. "I
make mental notes to myself … I always try to find some area in
my game that I can improve on … I don’t think that I will ever
stop doing that as long as I play basketball."
Improvement is the key word for the Bruins this year. After a
5-17 showing in the Pac-10 last season Hilbert’s new found zeal and
aggressiveness has helped elevate UCLA to a 4-2 start in conference
and earned her this week’s Pac-10 Player of the Week honors.
"This is a place where you are supposed to win," Hilbert said.
"Losing is not what life is here at UCLA, and we lost last year and
it was very frustrating. So in the off-season, I think that I
focused on all my weaknesses and I picked up my level of intensity
because I knew that was what I needed in order for us to get some
wins this year."
Her intensity was evident against Stanford, where Hilbert scored
a team-high 29 points and gave Stanford a scare as the Bruins were
within a hair of their biggest upset of the season. Just one
meeting earlier, the Cardinal crushed UCLA, 84-49.
"We feel that we have to pay back a lot of teams in the Pac-10,
a lot of it is payback," Hilbert said. "That is where a lot of the
fight comes from. We are going to make them pay for not respecting
us."
Teammates acknowledged Hilbert’s hard work and fervor over the
off-season by voting her team captain. Hilbert was honored by the
commendation and hopes to fill the role as best as she can.
"I’m trying to establish myself as a leader even though we have
already played a few games," Hilbert said. "Sometimes I am
successful, sometimes I am not.
"It’s all a learning process and I am going to keep trying to
get better, I am never going to give up, I am never going to stop
trying to be a leader for my team, I’ll never do that."
ANDREW SCHOLER/Daily Bruin
Junior guard Nickey Hilbert has dominated the basketball court
lately, but aspires to become an actress after she leaves UCLA.
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