“Instead of meeting me at the Dean Dome, can you meet me at the emergency room?”
That was the text Ciera Toomey sent to her parents on October 13, 2023 — the day of UNC’s “Live Action With Carolina Basketball” celebration at the Dean Smith Center. It was meant to be a coming out party for both the men’s and women’s basketball programs, with the five-star freshman Toomey among the newcomers introduced for head coach Courtney Banghart’s team.
But now Toomey lay crumpled on one of UNC’s notoriously unforgiving brick paths, her right wrist both broken and dislocated after colliding with a fellow student while she was riding her scooter.
Staff from the men’s program soon found Toomey and helped her get to the Campus Health facility, where an X-ray revealed the ugly truth.
“I just lost it,” Toomey said. “It was the first time I had a moment alone. I was like, ‘Wow, I just can’t catch a break.’”
It was another difficult setback in a difficult time for Toomey, who missed most of her senior season in high school with a torn ACL in her right knee. The rehab from that injury was tough enough that Toomey had already declared her intention to redshirt her freshman season in Chapel Hill, just days before her scooter accident. The one-two punch of maladies delayed a highly anticipated debut: the Dunmore, Pennsylvania native’s commitment to Carolina had given Banghart a crown jewel in a star-studded recruiting class and spurned perennial powerhouse UConn in the process. Before her initial injury, Toomey had been ranked as high as No. 3 in the Class of 2023.
Toomey’s injuries were far from the only ones hampering the Tar Heels last season; there were some games where Banghart had only six players at her disposal. But for such a heralded prospect, one whose addition could signal a return to national prominence for UNC’s program, her absence was especially painful.
“It was a rough time,” Toomey said. “It was a time where I was like, ‘Am I ever gonna play basketball again?’”
The early days of Toomey’s recovery saw the five-star recruit wearing a cast on her shooting hand and walking on a tender knee. Her daily rehab was sometimes split between upper- and lower-body workouts.
During Toomey’s absence, Carolina scuffled. The Tar Heels lost four of their final six games to end the season, including a first-round exit in the ACC Tournament and a shellacking at the hands of eventual national champion South Carolina in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Throughout it all, though, Toomey’s persistence impressed those lucky few teammates who’d escaped the injury bug unscathed.
“I can just see, day in and day out, how she shows up and she’s ready to work,” said sophomore guard Sydney Barker. “How she just enjoys the process and has a really good perspective on things.”
That perspective wasn’t always there. But the program would never let its prized recruit get too down for too long. Toomey gave special credit to Jodi Schneider, the team’s head athletic trainer, for helping her through especially bleak times.
“She was my physical therapist, but also she was my actual therapist,” Toomey said. “We would have conversations on days where my wrist was sore or my knee was sore. We were like, ‘OK, let’s just chill today.’ And we would just talk.
“I would just tell her how I was feeling. She would really help me. I’m all about preparation, so she would help me understand what it was gonna take to get to where I needed to be. And in some of those conversations, I was able to believe in myself again and believe that I actually would be able to play basketball.”
As Toomey’s rehab progressed, the former five-star began to look like her old self. But Banghart wasn’t taking any chances.
“We are going to ensure that her journey is one of great success,” she said. “You’ve gotta hit some singles before you hit home runs. So we’re gonna hit some singles with her to start.”
Those singles included Toomey officially taking the court for the first time in well over a year in Carolina’s opener against Charleston Southern. She scored her first points in Game 2 against UNC-Wilmington, then played 22 minutes and scored 10 points in Game 4 against No. 2 UConn. In Carolina’s Battle 4 Atlantis title game blowout of Indiana, Toomey played a season-high 23 minutes. The singles haven’t quite stretched to home runs yet, but Toomey said she’s slowly but surely finding her sea legs again.
“That comfortability is really big for me. So I feel like it will probably take some time,” she said. “I would probably put it at 75 percent. I think I’m doing well and [am] where I need to be for right now, but I feel like there’s a lot of room for progress.”
That progress could very well determine the arc of Carolina’s season, one in which the Tar Heels are looking to recapture the momentum which was seemingly all around the program when it reached the Sweet 16 three years ago.
For now, Banghart is just happy to have Ciera Toomey back. And just in case, the head coach has installed a new rule.
“Scooters are made for people my size,” Banghart said. “So we just don’t ride those anymore. We’re more into the e-bike thing.”
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Andy Mead
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