OGDEN, Utah – Junior guard Amanda Frost had to sit through the first 11 games of the
NAU women’s basketball season while recovering from an injury, and when
she returned last Thursday, she quickly made up for lost time.
Frost
scored a career-high 27 points to lead NAU to a 71-61 win at Southern
Utah and today was named the Co-Big Sky Women’s Basketball Player of the
Week, sharing the award with Montana State’s Rachel Semansky.
“My
adrenaline was just really high; I was so nervous but I was pumped,”
said Frost regarding her season debut. “I just wanted to help my team
win and our whole team was just fired up. We were all playing together
and all talking and the energy was high. Once we won it was the greatest
feeling and I just want to carry it on.”
Coming off the bench in
her season debut, Frost ended up playing a career-high 36 minutes while
connecting on 10-of-15 field goal attempts, including a 3-for-5 line
from 3-point range. She also added three assists, two steals, two
rebounds, and a block to lead NAU to its first conference win of the
season. After senior guard Amy Patton broke the NAU career scoring
record in the first half, Frost poured in 15 points while playing all 20
minutes in the second half to ensure that Patton’s historic night came
in a win.
“I wasn’t really thinking about it at all,” said Frost
of her injury. “I was just playing and once I stepped on the court I
didn’t even think about it.”
Frost is in her second season at NAU
after transferring from Fullerton College prior to the 2011-12
campaign. She ranked second on the team with 8.6 points per game and
fourth in the Big Sky with a .360 3-point percentage last season while
leading the team with 45 3-pointers to be among the most feared outside
threats in the Big Sky Conference.
She was one of only three
Lumberjacks to play in all 29 games last season and was expected to be
one of NAU’s top scorers this season, but a bit of misfortune derailed
the start of her junior year just a few weeks before the start of the
2012-13 season.
Frost sustained an injury during Fall practice
and her recovery time could have spanned the entire season, but through
hard work and determination she made her return just two games into Big
Sky play.
“I had to work really hard (to come back),” Frost
said. “They told me I was supposed to be out for a lot longer than I
was. A lot of people kept saying I probably wouldn’t be playing this
season but I just told myself that I wanted to come back and be the
player to win games and help my team win the Big Sky.”
Watching
her team struggle to a 1-10 start to the season brought additional
anguish to Frost as she persevered through her rehab.
“It hurt my
heart because I couldn’t do anything but cheer for people,” she said.
“I can’t explain how I felt because it was so difficult. It was like I
lost my life and when I got to play it felt like my life was back.”
With
their sharpshooter back in the lineup and with an impressive road
conference win under their belt, the Lumberjacks return home for four
straight Big Sky games in the Walkup Skydome, starting at 6:35 p.m.
Thursday vs. Eastern Washington. Frost and her teammates are ready to
prove that their victory at Southern Utah was just the start of a strong
run through the Big Sky Conference.
“I believe that was our
defining moment,” said Frost of the Southern Utah win. “Coach has been
talking about our defining moment and that was ours to turn around the
season.”
