Kyla Nelson’s long-awaited return to the basketball court was halted from a special surprise of support.
Nelson, a junior guard for the Pitt women’s team, made her comeback Tuesday after being diagnosed with a neuroendocrine tumor of the appendix in August.
The Worthing, England native had surgery in October and returned to watch her teammates in practice a week later.
But on Tuesday, the 5-foot-11 guard returned to the hardwood against Miami University.
The surprise.
— Pitt Basketball (@Pitt_WBB) December 18, 2019
Special shoutout to @sportsiren for stopping by the locker room before Kyla made her return.#H2P // #GoBeyond pic.twitter.com/y0qwZPiL6L
As soon as she emerged from the locker room, reporter Holly Rowe of ESPN stopped Nelson to wish her good luck.
Rowe, a cancer survivor, was going to Pittsburgh to cover the NCAA volleyball tournament, but arrived a day early to give Nelson her show of support.
Nelson clocked 12 minutes and contributed three points in her return despite a 80-71 loss to the RedHawks.
“It was great being back out with the team,” Nelson said. “It felt good being out there, though.”
