By Tom Robinson, NEPASportsNation.com
DUNMORE – Ciera Toomey took a break from the long, slow, demanding process of rehabilitating a major knee injury.
A signature on a written contract replaced the promise of when she gave her word with a verbal commitment in April. With it, Toomey had a chance Wednesday afternoon to celebrate what her past work on the basketball court had created and to take a moment for a reminder of what she is working toward.
“It’s really exciting,” Toomey said after signing her National Collegiate Athletic Association Letter of Intent for a basketball scholarship to the University of North Carolina. “I didn’t realize how soon it was going to be, but when my parents told me, it was a nice little distraction, just planning for it, figuring it out with UNC.”
Toomey gathered teammates, family and special guests in the lobby outside the Dunmore gym for the occasion.
The 6-foot-4 senior does not get to spend time on the basketball court with teammates these days. Since suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the first half of the District 2 Class 4A championship game, Toomey had to sit on the sidelines and watch her team in the state tournament.
Reconstructive surgery followed and Toomey moved on to physical therapy. She is back shooting a basketball – even shooting it on the move now – in solo workouts, supervised by her AAU coach, NEPA Elite’s Kevin Clark.
“This process has obviously been rough and long,” Toomey said. “But, I think I’m going to get better basketball-wise and become a stronger person mentally and physically from it. I’m just trying to look at that.”
Toomey knows the rehab process is not done yet.
“The last two months, I’ve been to shoot, definitely, and the past month, I’ve been able to do more,” she said. “Like, right now, I feel like I could play in a game, but I can’t. I know that.
“I’ve been working on everything that I can possibly do.”
While the long-range target is her college career at North Carolina, Toomey is hopeful of salvaging at least part of her senior season. It would be her first chance to play on a high school team with her mother, Carrie Toomey, as head coach. Carrie has coached Ciera at times on the youth and AAU levels.
“I’m really not sure of the timeframe,” Ciera Toomey said. “All I know is I’ve been keeping up with the checkpoints you have to meet. Now, we’re in the strengthening phase, so it’s just a matter of how long that takes.
“I do hope to be back at some point in the season, but I’m not really sure yet.”
In the meantime, Toomey continues to communicate with the North Carolina coaching staff, through texts, calls and FaceTime conversations.
“They’re really like family,” she said. “They make a connection very well and they’ve continued to do that after I committed.”
MORE COVERAGE
In case you missed any of the coverage of Toomey’s commitment in April:
The main story from Toomey’s announcement of a verbal commitment. https://nepasportsnation.com/toomey/.
Ciera Toomey recruiting Q&A. https://nepasportsnation.com/ciera-toomey-recruiting-q-a/.
The Toomey family. Toomeys share love of basketball – NEPA Sports Nation
Toomey describes the player after which she patterns her game. https://nepaelite.com/2022/04/toomey-copied-from-best-when-adding-new-moves/.
Toomey had many to thank. https://nepabasketball.com/2021-22/Recruiting/ToomeyChoosesUNC.
The recruiting process that led to UConn and North Carolina as the last two options. https://nepabasketball.com/2021-22/Recruiting/ToomeyDecisionProcess.
