Kia Nurse

Kia Nurse

No. 11 – Connecticut Huskies
Position	Guard
League	American Athletic Conference
Personal information
Born	(1996-02-22) February 22, 1996
Nationality	Canadian
Listed height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Career information
High school	St. Thomas More (Hamilton, Ontario)
College	Connecticut (2014–present)

Kia Nurse (born 22 February 1996) is a Canadian basketball player for Connecticut Huskies and the Canadian national team, where she participated at the 2014 FIBA World Championship.^[1]

Early years

Nurse began playing basketball at the age of four, and by the time she was seven years old, she was playing in a competitive league.^[2]

Nurse played basketball while attending St. Thomas More Catholic Secondary School in Hamilton, Ontario. During her playing career, she helped the team win three consecutive OFSAA high school championships in 2011, 2012 and 2013.^[3][4]

While still in high school, she was invited to the training camp for Canada's national team. She was invited mainly "for the experience", planning for the future of the team, but she played well enough to earn a spot on the roster.^[5]

Approximately 50 colleges and universities contacted Nurse to ask her to consider playing for their team. She initially narrowed down the list to four teams, Connecticut, Penn State, Indiana and Kentucky, but eventually chose Connecticut.^[3] After signing her letter of intent, she revealed that she had recorded a goal of playing for Connecticut while still a seventh grader.^[4]

University of Connecticut Statistics

FIBA

Nurse was invited to play on the under-17 national team in the FIBA Under-17 World Championship for Women, held in Amsterdam in 2012. She averaged almost 14 points per game, and helped the team to a third place finish.^[7][8]

She was invited to join the national team, to play in the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship for Women, held in Xalapa, Mexico from 21–28 September 2013. She averaged ten points per game, and helped the Canadian National team to a second place, silver medal finish. Canada faced Cuba in a preliminary round and won 53–40, but in the championship game, Cuba prevailed 79–71.^[9][10]

Nurse played on the Canadian national team in the 2014 FIBA World Championship. The team lost to Australia in the quarterfinals, then beat France and China to finish in fifth place.^[11] Nurse averaged almost 22 minutes per game at the point guard position, averaging almost seven points per games, fourth most on the roster, while being the youngest player on the roster.^[12]

Personal life

Kia Nurse was born to Richard and Cathy Nurse and was raised in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Richard Nurse played in the CFL and Cathy Nurse was a basketball player at McMaster University in Canada,^[13] her older siblings are Tamika Nurse, who played basketball for Oregon and Bowling Green,^[14] and professional hockey player Darnell Nurse. She is also the niece of former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb who is married to her aunt Raquel Nurse McNabb.^{[15] [16]}

References