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'We look
to Niya'
In Niya We Trust.
That is the simplest way to sum up what Niya Fields means to the Putnam Science Academy girls’ prep basketball team.
The 5-foot, 8-inch senior point guard is the only returning starter among the four players who were on last year’s team. And Fields, who hails from Peekskill, N.Y., is the only one who played on the school’s first girls’ team in 2017-18.
“She is poised. She is steady. She is battle-tested,” Mustangs first-year coach Amanda Morales said. “When things break down and get chaotic, we will look to Niya.”
That is actually a lot to put on someone, considering she won’t turn 17 until New Year’s Eve. (Fields skipped a grade when she was younger, but said she doesn’t remember which one, other than laughing that “it was an early one.”) But she knows this is her time.
“My first two years, we had Fatima Lee and Ari Koivisto,” Fields said. “They were our leaders and they kept me in check. Now I have to step up and take their position and keep my team in check. Now I am the leader.”
For someone who does not care for public speaking, addressing her team and teammates could be a little challenging. As time has gone on though, Fields is more at ease in the role that has been both assumed by her and passed down to her. She understands the significance of it. And her teammates have openly accepted her standing.
“Niya is a great teammate and she is our leader,” said fellow senior Lucie Castagne, who was a teammate of Fields last year as well. “She cares about everybody. She has our backs. Girls can go to her, she can go talk to the girls if she needs to. She’s great.”
It helps that she can play a little bit too. In early October, she committed to play at Norfolk State University in Virginia; the Spartans are getting a solid offensive player, but someone who has made her name on the defensive end of the court.
“I’ve known since probably sixth grade that I liked to pressure the ball and get my steals,” Fields said. “I like to get my points from my steals rather than bringing it down the court. My defense helps my offense. And it rattles the other team, of course. To know that I’m making them call a timeout to switch something up, and then they switch it and I’m still interrupting what they’re doing, I know I’m just frustrating them even more and that helps my team.”
The Mustangs have designs on winning the Insider Exposure Independent School National Championships in late February, where they have finished in third place the last two seasons. After opening this season with a home win over TPLS of Fairfax, Va., in which Fields had 10 points and a half-dozen steals, PSA traveled to Montreal for a three-games-in-three-days showcase to prepare for the format of the national championships. PSA had a little tougher time there against some of Canada’s top teams, dropping two of three games. PSA next plays in another showcase on Nov. 16 in Maryland.
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy
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