Emily Price and Dara Nelson can finish each other’s sentences.
The twosome – best of friends off the basketball court and archrivals on it – alternately laugh and become pensive as they describe the other as she ‘used to be’ on the basketball court.
Before the injuries.
“Em was awesome,” said Nelson. “She had awesome moves to the basket. She was definitely a go-to person.
“Back in SHYBA (youth basketball), it was me and Em working together. You could rely on Em. Honestly, she still has the nicest shot around.”
Then it’s Price’s turn to describe Nelson.
“Dara was always the good one, the little baller that everyone was like, ‘Watch out for her,” she said. “I looked at her like, ‘Oh my god, she’s amazing.’ She reminded me of a little Allen Iverson.
“She was an amazing ball handler, and she could shoot the ball. She was probably one of the best point guards around. Allen Iverson – she’s a little Allen Iverson.”
But the ‘baller’ Price called ‘Little Allen Iverson’ and the player with the ‘nicest shot around and awesome moves’ have not had a chance to showcase their talents.
Their high school careers – filled with such promise – have been a litany of injuries.
Over the past three seasons, Price, a junior at Souderton, has torn her ACL once and twice torn her meniscus.
During the same time frame, Nelson - a North Penn junior - has endured a stress fracture in her foot, a pulled hamstring, a high ankle sprain and, most recently, a torn ACL.
Needless to say, their careers have not followed the script anyone could have imagined when Price and Nelson burst onto the scene as freshmen.
Back then, both had dreams of one day reaching the 1,000-point milestone for their respective squads and going on to play at the collegiate level.
“I was definitely hoping to get letters and get looked at by colleges,” Nelson said. “Playing AAU, we wanted to go to all the huge tournaments. We never got to do that. It didn’t happen.”
Now, they’d simply like to have an injury-free senior season.
Their wishes for each other reflect a friendship that was nurtured as they stood by each other through a series of injuries that forever altered their careers.
“I hope that Em can make it through the season,” Nelson said. “And that she scores points like she’s the go-to player next year – not just puts up two shots a game.”
“The same for Dara,” Price said. “Star point guard at North Penn, scoring 15 points a game like freshman year – a little Allen Iverson.”
It could happen if they stay healthy, something that hasn’t happened since their high school careers began.
***
On a cold and gray January day, there’s a heated basketball game going on in Souderton’s gymnasium between the Indians and Central Bucks East.In the stands, Dara Nelson - surrounded by her North Penn teammates –enthusiastically cheers Emily Price’s every move.
“I’m sitting with NP fans, but I don’t even care,” Nelson said. “I’ve known Em since I was 10 years old. It’s just second nature to cheer for her.
“Every time she goes to the floor, I’m holding the bleachers, making sure she’s getting back up.”
Nelson comes by her concern honestly. Both she and Price know more than they’d like to know about going down and not getting back up.
Price was projected to be among the best ever to wear Souderton uniform before she stepped onto the court as a freshman. A standout forward, she was in the starting lineup on opening night of 2006 when the Indians faced Pennridge.
Her rookie season lasted less than 16 minutes.
Price went down in the closing moments of the first half after a collision going up for a rebound.
“As soon as she went down, I saw her holding her knee,” Nelson recalled. “I’m like, ‘Come on, Em, get up, get up.’
“She jumps up, plays defense and then walks off the court. I’m like, ‘Oh my god, maybe she’s okay.’”
Price knew she wasn’t okay.
“I could have cared less about the pain,” she said afterwards. “It was the pop. They say the pop is the ACL.
“What’s the luck – first game varsity, freshman year, tearing your ACL and out for the rest of the season. I went from being so excited to one of the worst nights ever.”
In her brief stint on the court, Price had given a glimpse of greatness, scoring eight points before she went down.
“To say the least, that season went downhill fast at that moment,” Souderton coach Lynn Carroll said. “I was so excited to get her. She did not play like a freshman. Her intelligence on the court is one of the things that sets her apart.
“Offensively, she has a good sense for the game. She’s extremely well rounded on the offensive end. Emily was so excited to start her high school career, and it would have been a great one.”
Instead, she was sidelined for the season and underwent surgery in January.
***
At North Penn, Nelson had already earned star status as a freshman, averaging 15 points a game and earning team MVP honors despite missing the final four games of the season with a stress fracture in her left foot.It marked the beginning of a long and difficult stretch for Nelson.
“I was bummed,” she said. “I definitely thought I would be back in time for Fencor (AAU), but then I found out my doctor wasn’t going to let me play.
“That’s when me and Em decided to work all summer and try to get better and prove we deserved to be on the team next year.”
Price and Nelson worked tirelessly the following summer, working out three times a week with the same personal trainer.
“We were so strong,” Nelson said. “We were in shape. We were eating good. Everything we were doing was right.
“It was like ‘Alright, I’m going to have a good year this year, come back from my injury,’ but it just went downhill.”
First, Nelson was sidelined with a pulled hamstring muscle and then – in her first game back – suffered a high ankle sprain going up for a layup. She returned for the Maidens’ final three games of the season but was still hampered by her injury.
Maiden coach Maggie deMarteleire – in her first year at the helm – admits that Nelson figured prominently in her plans to turn the struggling program around.
“I saw her in AAU when she was younger, and I always thought she was a very special player,” the Maidens’ coach said. “She has a very good handle on the ball, and she has very good instincts, particularly offensively.
“It really is sad because she’s such a nice girl and such a hard worker, and you just hope that her senior year everything works out the way it should.”
***
Price, meanwhile, once again found herself in constant pain and was sidelined for the opening weeks of her sophomore season with what was diagnosed as a torn calf muscle. She hobbled through the high school season and that spring returned to the AAU circuit with the Collegeville Jaguars – a less intense program than Fencor, which she had been involved with prior to her injury.
Last summer, the nagging injury in her left knee was diagnosed as a torn meniscus, not a torn calf muscle. She had surgery in July and after a month of rehab was back on the court only to have the pain return this fall.
The diagnosis?
A torn meniscus in the same knee.
Actually, that was almost good new since Price had initially been told she had torn her ACL again as well.
“I had an MRI, and I was waiting all day in school for the results,” she recalled. “My mom works in radiology, and I was like, ‘How can you not get the results?’
“I got home from school and said ‘Did you get the results?’ Both of my parents looked at the ground and looked at me and said, ‘It’s on the table.’ I flipped it over, and it said, ‘Meniscus tear.’ I said, ‘I knew it.’ Then all of a sudden I saw ‘Anterior Cruciate Ligament tear,’ and I just dropped to the floor and started crying. My mom started crying. It was probably the worst feeling I could ever have.”
Price, who will have surgery this summer to remove the meniscus, opted to wear a brace and played her entire junior year with the torn meniscus.
“I’m not a 100 percent yet, but I’d like to get there, and I’m working hard to get there,” Price said. “I’m still a little timid on a lot of things.”
The junior forward admits she questions why her career has had so many setbacks.
“If it was just my freshman year with my ACL, I think I was more like, ‘Alright, I have three more years. It’s alright,’ but when I had my meniscus, it was like, ‘Come on,’” Price said. “When it happened to my meniscus again, it was like, ‘Alright, I don’t know what’s going on now.’
“I would much rather have a meniscus than an ACL, much rather. That’s probably the best way to look at it.”
Nelson wasn’t nearly as lucky.
The junior point guard was looking to lead the Maidens to great things this season when she went down during the final minutes of a fall league game against Cheltenham on Oct. 24.
“I knew it was my ACL,” Nelson said. “I felt the pop. I was crying, not because of the pain. I knew it was my ACL.
“I was so excited for this year. My dad was like, ‘This is your year. You had setbacks, but you’ve worked so hard. You can do it this year.’ It wasn’t even a real game, and I knew I was out for the season.
“I was just so bummed. Me and Shakia (Robinson) have never gotten to play together a full year. We were like, ‘Alright, Shak, this is our year to work together,’ and that never happened.”
Price was the first person Nelson talked to after her injury.
“She came to my house that night,” Price said. “At first my dad and I were like, ‘What does it feel like?’
“When she told us, me and my dad just looked at each other. I knew right away when she told us what it was.”
Nelson had surgery to repair her torn ACL on Nov. 26.
“This past off-season, she worked so hard,” deMarteleire said. “Our whole team had put in a lot of time, and we were ready to go.
“When this happened, you’re like, ‘Oh my goodness, can something good go right for this kid?’ She’s a good kid, and she’s a very smart basketball player.”
Nelson was relegated to watching her team from the bench this past season.
“It’s a horrible feeling,” she said. “I hate sitting there watching my team not play up to its potential. If I was on the floor, I feel like I could make them more enthusiastic, make them give more heart and be about the game. It’s just horrible sitting on the bench knowing I can’t do anything.”
According to deMarteleire, Nelson is a student of the game.
“It’s very interesting how insightful she is about the game now,” the Maidens’ coach said. “She sees things. I really think to take any kind of positive out of this – I think that for next year she’s going to be a much smarter basketball player because she sat on the bench and saw things.
“She was already smart about the game, but I think she’s actually learned a little bit more about it.”
***
Through all the injuries and setbacks, one thing has remained constant – the deep friendship the two athletes share.
“Dara is one of the funniest people I know,” Price said. “We’ll go on trips, and I’m on the floor, (wetting) my pants laughing at anything that comes out of her mouth, no matter what she says.”
“Our friendship is so good – we can go to each other about everything,” Nelson said. “We tell each other everything.
“Em is definitely a person I can hang out with, and I know I’m going to laugh because of the stupid things she does or says or all the fun stuff we can do together. I can rely on her for anything pretty much.
“I feel like it we didn’t have each other, we wouldn’t be as strong to get through it. We’re there for each other. We definitely pick each other up all the time.”
Neither has completely let go of the dream of one day playing at the collegiate level.
“I’d love to try it,” Price said. “I don’t know how I’d do, but I’d love to try.”
“I was hoping to get a scholarship,” Nelson said. “That was my goal, but since I haven’t been playing in so long, no one has seen me.
“I definitely hope I have a healthy year next year and can come back and play the way I usually play.”
“You’re coming back,” Price tells her close friend “You’re coming back.
“I know you’ll come back strong.”
And then turning away from Nelson, Price said, “She’s going to college (to play basketball). I know she will.”
Before that time, both have one last season to play high school basketball, one last chance to be injury-free.
“They’ve both had hard luck,” deMarteleire said. “Hopefully, that’s going to change.”
It's a safe bet a lot of people will be rooting for Price and Nelson.
Stay tuned.
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