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All-state basketball player Ally Niece has positive outlook on recovering from knee surgery


By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter

Ally Niece is looking forward to spending a week on the beach during her family’s vacation in early August. She deserves a break after enduring more than four weeks of physical therapy to recover from knee surgery.

A few days before her knee surgery, Ally Niece attended the LaRosa’s High School MVP of the Year banquet on crutches. She was one of six female finalists for the annual award that’s sponsored by Buddy LaRosa, right. (Photo from Kelly Niece)

Niece, a first-team all-state selection in girls’ basketball the last two years, tore ligaments in her left knee playing in a summer scrimmage game with her Simon Kenton teammates on June 22.

“I was driving and went to jump stop and my knee went backwards and popped out of place and then popped back into place,” she said. “It hurt really bad, like the worst pain I’ve ever felt.”

An MRI scan showed the extensive damage that caused the pain. She said the anterior cruciate ligament was completely torn and there was a partial tear in the meniscus ligament. The medial collateral ligament on the outside of the knee had separated from the bone.

Dr. Angelo Colisimo, a noted orthopedic surgeon in Cincinnati, repaired the ligament damage on June 30 and physical therapy began three days later. Niece has been going to therapy sessions three days a week and doing exercises on her own at home throughout the month of July.

If everything goes well, the 5-foot-8 point guard will be on the court when her senior season begins in December and then she’ll move on to a collegiate career at Northern Kentucky University. She made a commitment with the Norse in January.

“I feel I can overcome it,” Niece of the knee injury. “Rehab has been going really well, I think. I haven’t had too many problems. I went to the doctor last week and they said everything is looking good.”

College basketball teams began recruiting Niece after her sophomore season when she averaged 20.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game and surpassed the 2,000 mark in career scoring.

Niece led Simon Kenton to the 8th Region championship last season.

Last season, she averaged 19.2 points, 6.9 rebounds and 4.5 assists for the Pioneers, who won the 8th Region championship and made it to the quarterfinals of the state tournament. In addition to being voted first-team all-state in a statewide coaches polls for the second consecutive year, she was named 2017 Player of the Year by the Greater Cincinnati Women’s Sports Association.

Niece’s career scoring total is now somewhere near the 2,700 mark. If the knee injury doesn’t sidetrack her senior season, she could become the fourth 9th Region player to surpass 3,000 points and finish among the top 25 all-time scorers in the state. She could also be among the leading candidates for Miss Kentucky Basketball next season.

“Honestly, I’m just taking it day by day,” she said. “I haven’t thought about the season or anything like that. I’ve broken my ankle before and been on crutches four to six weeks and this kind of feels like that. It doesn’t feel like it’s that long term to me.”

Nice wears a brace on her left knee and she’ll walk with crutches for a few more weeks before doctors let her put any weight on it. But the positive feedback she’s getting from former players who had knee surgery and returned to the game has bolstered her outlook. One of them is NKU coach Camryn Whitacre, who was injured during her playing career.

“She’s had surgeries herself and one of my old AAU coaches messed her knee up too,” Niece said. “I just know a lot of people who have done it and they said I’ll be fine and after it’s over I’ll be much stronger from it and learn a lot from it.”


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