Basketball season used to get under Karen Nimo’s skin.
That’s because, for the last three years, basketball season meant Nimo was sitting in the stands as a spectator, becoming irritated with watching people do on the court what she knew she should be doing.
Nimo’s always been athletic. And she’s always loved the game of basketball. However, she spent her first three years of high school at A.R. Johnson playing volleyball and running track and cross country. She performed well, but none of those sports scratched what was truly itching.
And that itch annually got more intense each year from around November to March.
“This same time over the past three years, I was in the basketball gym bleachers watching girls and boys do what, deep inside I knew could do too,” Nimo said. “So back then, it was very difficult around basketball season for me.”
That started to change last year when one of the Augusta area’s foremost basketball trainers, Darrin Shine, met Nimo and saw her raw skills during one of his physical education classes at Johnson.
While others would just be horsing around on the basketball court, there was something different about how Nimo approached the game — even in recreation.
“She was always in there playing with the boys,” Shine said. “When I first saw her, I said, ‘man, this girl’s got a lot of talent. You could just see it by the way she moved around, how she handled and shot the ball. You could tell just by having an eye for talent.”
“I used to live out my hoop dreams during those PE classes,” Nimo said. “[Coach Shine] saw me play and he asked me, ‘why don’t you play basketball for real? You got skill.’”
A change for the better
Problem was, basketball aside, Nimo was actually rather happy at Johnson. She currently holds a 4.2 GPA and ranks third in her graduating class. She plans to major in biology in college and has aspirations to become a pediatrician or a dermatologist.
With those lofty academic and career goals, leaving a good school to go to another to play basketball at first seemed rather trite to Nimo.
“[A.R. Johnson] was wonderful educationally,” Nimo said. “They just didn’t have basketball.”
Additionally, by the time she met Shine and had this discussion with him, senior year was just around the corner. Truth is, Nimo has been around basketball since childhood, and, in the back of her mind, she fantasized about playing collegiately. But most serious high school and college-bound ballers weren’t waiting until their last year in high school to get started on that path.
“I told coach Shine of my situation, and coach Shine told me I could still play,” she said. “But I thought it was already too late. I remember him saying, though, ‘if you want to do this, you have to be really serious about it.’ And I’m always up for a challenge, regardless, so I told him, ‘let’s do it.’”
From there, Nimo and Shine went to work. Standing about 5-foot-10, Nimo’s lengthy, lean frame and accompanying athleticism already made her a perfect fit for the hardwood, physically. Plus, she already came equipped with a sweet jumper and some of those basketball instincts that coaching can’t teach.
Those instincts, her non-stop hustle motor and that natural shooting stroke all showed up in real time during this past week’s Region 4-AA tournament — particularly in Butler’s 54-46 Region 4-AA tournament semifinal win against No. 3 Thomson.
Nimo’s stat line was crazy — 25 points, including a staggering 5-for-5 from 3-point range in the game’s first half. She added 10 rebounds and six steals, and though she didn’t look for the 3-point shot as much in the second half, she still made some crucial buckets and key defensive stops down the stretch that helped secure the Lady Bulldogs’ spot in Friday’s region championship game against second-ranked Josey.
Nimo also scored 13 points in Friday’s 63-54 Region 4-AA tournament championship game win over Josey.
While the performance may have raised eyebrows to those who’ve never heard Nimo’s name or watched her play, it wasn’t a shock for Nimo, her teammates, Shine nor Butler girls head coach Eboni Fields.
“She’s actually been a little up and down this year,” Fields said. “But we always knew it was in her. We were just waiting for it to click, and it clicked on at the right time. She’s playing extremely well now. She’s just that kind of special player, and it definitely showed [Thursday and Friday night].”
Nimo agreed with her coach’s assessment.
“I’ve always been a great shooter,” Nimo said. “But starting the season off, I was in a huge slump. This made me even question my abilities at one point, but I soon realized that as an athlete, you’ve gotta work on your mental game. When the mind is roaming, it’s hard to be in the present. You shouldn’t have to think about every step you take once you’re on the court. Just let it flow. The shots will fall.”
Winning the ‘brain game’
That heightened basketball mentality and IQ has come directly from her time learning the game from Shine and Fields.
“I knew, coming into the season, what her biggest issue was going to be — that cerebral, IQ part,” Shine said. “Playing free play, pickup style basketball and playing actual game ball are two totally different things. She struggled a lot with that this year, which was to be expected. If you watch her work out, watch her warm up, you’ll look and say, ‘this girl can play.’ But in games when it’s 10 people on the court, she’ll get a little confused. It’s just basketball IQ things.”
That’s why, as soon as Shine realized how serious she was, he became dedicated to doing his part to help her close that IQ gap. Teaching her how to move without the ball, how to set screens, read screens and read defenses was priority number one.
“I really didn’t start actually training until last year,” she said. “Majority of my skills were self taught — just the basics. But coach Shine, coach Jay, coach Tracey and coach Fields filled out the fundamental, mental and physical aspects.”
And playing in a tough region against some of the best players and teams in Georgia helped that development too, even when it was hard.
“You kind of throw her into the fire against girls from teams like Josey and Thomson who have been playing the game at least since freshman year in high school or longer, and you knew it would be tough,” Shine said. “She went through it, took her ups and downs, bumps and bruises, but I knew by the time we got to region time, it was all going to start clicking.”
Given the short time she’s been at it, her results are astounding.
Nimo averages 10 points, seven rebounds and almost three steals a game this season in support of higher scoring juniors Brayla Harris and Rania Curry.
Thursday’s performance against Thomson was the fourth time Nimo eclipsed the 20-point mark. In the homestretch of the regular season, she scored 27 and 25 points in two regular season games against Region 4-AA foe Westside and poured in 25 against Glenn Hills.
But the scoring explosion against a state contender like Thomson was extra special, and proof that she could do this at a high level.
“It feels wonderful to do it [against Thomson],” she said. “And any athlete would dream to have such an amazing coaching staff. Sometimes we as athletes have a hard time believing in ourselves or even seeing our true potential. It’s your job to put in the work in the dark, and eventually the light will shine bright. You will start seeing potential in yourself. Butler is filled with coaches who will push you.”
A bright basketball future
The push is paying off, both on the court and in the amount of eyes being drawn to her abilities.
Shine stated that, despite being short on varsity experience, the raw talent and high potential is causing coaches to come calling.
Nimo said she’s received calls from NCAA Division I, Division II and junior college programs. The list includes schools such as Fort Valley State, Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), California State University-Northridge (CSUN), South Georgia Tech and Pensacola State.
“I’m good friends with Fort Valley’s coach,” Shine said. “They’re ready to take her now. They came and watched her, and they love her. She went to visit. It was great. To see all this happen in just one year is crazy. But her ceiling is high. Once she continues to get that mental, IQ part of the game, she’s going to be — the sky’s the limit. It helps that she got into a great situation with Butler. Coach Fields, I think she’s coached college ball before. She knows how to get her girls prepared.”
Positioning herself academically and athletically for college becomes more crucial than ever with graduation just three months away. And with only one more guaranteed basketball game left in her high school career, the urgency to make the most of her time is settling in.
That’s why she’s hustles like she does on every play and every trip down the court. She wants to extend her season through the state tournament and continue making the most of her opportunity.
“I can say a small part of that hustle mentality comes from my circumstances,” she said. “Overall though, whenever I put my mind to something, I stop at nothing until I get what I want and deserve. I’ve always been extremely competitive. Can’t be satisfied unless I know for a fact I gave it my all.”
After being a part of a region championship team, it’s state tournament time where each game could be her last at the high school level, and with the GHSA state tournament being a place where college scouts typically like to come, Nimo knows that stakes now are at their highest.
With a No. 1 seed in the Class AA state tournament, Butler will host Fitzgerald next week in the portion of the season where, in the words of coach Eboni Fields, “records no longer matter,” as teams will do their best to end the other’s season.
But Nimo says she’s not just playing for the present moment, or even just for herself.
“Doing what I’m doing, it feels so good and refreshing,” Nimo said. “Working out three, four times a day playing catch up is all it took to see the results. I just bet on myself before others took the wheel in my development. In the future, I definitely plan to play basketball at the collegiate level. But mostly, I hope to inspire others with my story.
“I want them to know it’s never too late.”
