BLOOMINGTON — Indiana women’s basketball starting center Zania Socka-Nguemen is a “long shot” to return this season, according to coach Teri Moren.
The UCLA transfer missed nearly the entire month of December with a foot injury. She made a brief return to the lineup only to suffer an injury to her other foot and has missed IU’s last 10 games. Her last appearance came Jan. 22 in a loss to Ohio State.
While Moren hasn’t revealed many details to the exact nature of the injury, she told reporters on Sunday afternoon after a 74-59 win over Purdue that Socka-Nguemen will likely remain sidelined for the rest of the year with the coaches following the advice of the team’s medical staff.
“Z has a bright future here and a lot of basketball ahead of her,” Moren said. “Our main thing is to get her healthy and I think we want to just be very cautious, one bad decision to throw her out there could lead to something none of us want to see.”
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Socka-Nguemen has averaged 11.8 points and 8.7 rebounds in 12 games (11 starts).
Before the season, she won a gold medal while playing for Moren as part of USA Basketball Women’s Under-19 team. She was part of IU’s transfer haul in the offseason as a familiar face from the staff having recruited her out of high school.
She missed time during her freshman year with the Bruins from an unrelated leg injury that limited her to just 16 games.
“She’s still very vocal in practice, she’s very much a part of what we are doing, but just in a different role right now,” Moren said. “I think for us, it’s in our best interest to do what’s best for Z, especially for the future of Z and how she’s going to help us down the road.”
Indiana is looking to clinch a spot in this year’s Big Ten tournament with five regular-season games remaining. The Hoosiers (14-11, 3-10 Big Ten) have won three straight, but hit the road for their West Coast trip that includes stops at USC and UCLA.
Only the top 15 teams in the Big Ten make the tourney and IU entered play Sunday holding onto the final seed.
One of the keys for Indiana in the coming weeks to locking down one of those spots will be getting contributions from the front court players who have taken on a more prominent role in Socka-Nguemen’s absence. Edessa Noyan, a 6-foot-3 forward, is at the top of that list.
Moren was encouraged to see Noyan put up her first double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds against Purdue while helping protect the rim on defense.
In the first game between the teams, Noyan fouled out after 16 minutes.
“It’s really important, it’s very hard offensively to have any kind of balance when you don’t have a low-post presence,” Moren said. “She’s not a physical kid by nature, so it’s something we’ve had to really work with her on and changing her mentality. You have to be an option on the inside for us for anything to work on the outside.”
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Will Indiana women’s basketball starter return? They’ll ‘do what’s best for Z’
Reporting by Michael Niziolek, The Herald-Times / Indianapolis Star
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