Amaya Brown was in an Atlanta hotel room last summer when her mom gave her the news she'd been dreading.
Left knee. Torn ACL. Junior season? Almost certainly over.
It didn't matter that Brown thought she'd spend her junior year forcing steals and leading Cibola (Albuquerque, New Mexico) to another deep postseason run rather than doing leg lifts and recovery squats.
"It was," the 5-foot-11 point guard said, "devastating."
After one of her signature steals during a viewing period last July, Brown broke for the hoop, but her opponent bumped her. She came down awkwardly, hyperextending her knee. There was pain, sure, but no screaming or crying. It didn't help when the trainer on-site gave her a thumbs up.
"He was like, 'I don't think it was a tear.' I was like, 'OK,' " Brown said. "I didn't think it was a tear for the longest time."
Finally, Brown is back on the court, slashing through opposing offenses like she did so many times pre-injury. Last month, the 17-year-old made her return on a new team, Texas Elite AAU, in Phoenix.
The months before that had been spent in rehab. Four days a week almost immediately following her September surgery. It was the first time since she started hooping at 7 years old that she wasn't hooping.
Her parents, brother and grandma all helped keep her spirits up. It wasn't a simple task. It's not often top-30 recruits miss their entire junior season -- prime evaluation time for college coaches. So her mom, Catina Dunn, stepped up.
"One time I started crying and my mom was like, 'You're going to come back even stronger.' After that I didn't cry anymore," Brown said. "I was thinking it was God's plan."
An early statement
Brown hails from a basketball-crazed family. Dad, Greg, was a standout at nearby New Mexico. Catina played at Hobbs High (New Mexico). Younger brother, Amari, is hooked on basketball already as a fifth grader.
So, it made sense that Greg coached Amaya through middle school. Then she enrolled at Cibola and joined New Mexico Heat Elite AAU.
Her middle school years had one unforgettable moment. When Amaya was 11 and playing with 13- and 14-year-olds on Greg's team at a tournament in Dallas, Amaya made a statement.
"I told him, 'You're going to start me this game or I'm going to quit your team,' " Amaya said. "He was like, 'What?' I knew I was better than some of the girls."
Greg conceded. Amaya responded by scoring 26 first-half points, dashing any questions on future lineups.
"That's when I knew that she had something special," Greg said. "The ball is just going through the net. We had never seen that before."
These days, though, defense is Amaya Brown's specialty. Texas Elite coach Bill Franey equates her to basketball's version of a shutdown corner. Greg emphasized defense from the get-go. He knew that was where Amaya could excel. Now she's glad she listened.
"She is the best defensive guard in the country. Period," said Robert Sanchez, Brown's longtime AAU coach at New Mexico Elite. "There's not a better defender at the one or two in the country."
Sanchez predicts Brown will be a McDonald's All American as a senior. She took home New Mexico Gatorade player of the year honors as a sophomore after averaging 18.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.2 steals and 2.8 assists. Brown and Cibola won a state title when she was a freshman.
Cibola coach Lori Mabrey is happy to have Brown's talent back. Even if she was there all along -- as an extra set of hands in the special education department.
"She asked me if she could be my teacher's aide," Mabrey said. "I just adore her, so of course I was going to take her help."
But Mabrey appreciates her on-court assists, as well.
"I'm a very old school coach," Mabrey said. "Amaya has embraced [our defense]. It's what, in my opinion, kick-starts her offense."
Looking to the future
Time away from basketball also gave Brown clarity on the recruiting front. Brown recently trimmed her college list to UCLA, Florida State, TCU and Tennessee.
She's already visited the Seminoles and plans to visit Bruins on May 18 before Cibola lets out for the summer.
"She had a lot of big-time offers, and there were a lot of schools that dropped off," Greg said. "And there were some that stayed in. They let her rehab and understood that was a serious injury."
Brown, who is heading abroad for the first time in June as part of an Adidas team playing in Italy, says she's looking for the same family environment she saw after her untimely injury.
Sanchez said Brown's 3-point shot dramatically improved as a result of her rehab. She had more time to diagnose her shot and take a step forward.
It's just another piece of Brown's repertoire that is, finally, back on display.
"She's the kind of player that every year just gets better and better," Sanchez said. "She just has that unique ability to get in front of you, defend you hard without ever touching you, then whoosh. All of a sudden she's got that steal."
Just like old times.
