By Sam Draut
It has been a long journey for Tia Gibbs to be able to play basketball as a senior. She has
fought through injuries and adversity throughout her six years of college basketball.
“She continues to fight through things, she wanted to have a senior year, she wanted to be
able to say she gave it everything I had,” U of L head coach Jeff Walz said.
Gibbs was a five year varsity starter for Butler High School in Louisville, Ky. She led
Butler to the 2008 State Championship and was awarded Miss Basketball for the state of
Kentucky. Gibbs left Butler as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 2,790 points and
grabbed over 1,000 rebounds.
Coming out of high school, Gibbs was ranked 86th on ESPN’s HoopGurlz Top 100
ranking for the class of 2008. She signed to played for Vanderbilt.
In her freshman year at Vanderbilt, she averaged 5.1 points and 2.4 rebounds per game.
Gibbs appeared in 29 games and scored in double figures five times.
Gibbs transferred to U of L after her freshman year, so she was forced to sit out the
2009-10 season. She played her only full season with U of L her sophomore year in 2010-
11. Gibbs started every game for the Cardinals and averaged 8.8 points per game. She
led the team with 95 steals and pulled down 3.9 rebounds per game. Her three point field
goal percentage was 36.6 percent while her free throw percentage was 81.1 percent. Gibbs
finished with 62 assists, good for second on the team.
In her junior year, Gibbs suffered a shoulder injury in the season opener and was forced
to redshirt. The injuries continued to pile up for Gibbs, as she was sidelined with a hip
injury last season.
“At the beginning the pain was hard to bear, I could barely lift my leg up,” Gibbs said.
Gibbs struggled through the long rehab process, but continued to battle to get back onto
the court.
“She has put the time in, hours and hours of rehab, taking care of her body, now she is
going out there and looking great,” Walz said.
“The rehab was pretty hard but once I got onto the court it was like I never left, I’m a
little slower on defense getting that rhythm back from sitting out for two years,” Gibbs said.
“Everything else is still great, the chemistry is still there. I can still shoot, everything else is
back, the plays, the sets, almost like I never left.”
The sixth year senior has been in the program longer than any other player, so naturally,
she is looked at as a leader.
“We need someone to step up and be a leader on the floor, not just during good times,
but I need someone who if they aren’t playing well still has the ability to lead our group and
I am still trying to find it,” Walz said. “Tia is the one who has the best chance because of her
demeanor, how she handles herself, she doesn’t judge things on the floor just when she is
scoring. Tia has the best potential to be our leader.”
In her only full season as a Cardinal in 2010-11, Gibbs had multiple steals in 27 games and
played the second most minutes on the team.
“Adding Tia Gibbs to the team, coming back from her two years of injury, her leadership
and knowledge of the game, she talks more than any we’ve had in the past four or five years
on the court, she knows what she is doing, she gets her teammates involved, it’s the things
you don’t measure on a stat sheet that Tia does so well for us,” Walz said.
The questions becomes if Gibbs can endure a long season of 30 plus games. Walz said he
would monitor her during the year and hold her out of practices to keep her body fresh.
“There is going to be some games where she doesn’t have to play 15 or 20 minutes, if
we are in situations where we have a big lead, there is no sense in me having her out there
on the floor and risking an injury,” Walz said. “I do see her being a big part of this team.
She has been practicing extremely well, she has been shooting the ball extremely well.
Defensively, she has active hands, does a very nice job of rebounding the ball, so I think
she is in a great spot right now, it’s going to be up to me to make sure I manage her during
games. Especially when we have 3 games in one week, she is not going to be able to play 25
minutes, so I’ll need to make sure I know what games I’ll need her for.”
After four full years in the U of L program, Walz has a great feel for Gibb’s playing style
and her abilities as a basketball player.
But for Gibbs, she is excited to be back on the court and in her final year of college
basketball.
“It’s been a long road to say the least,” Gibbs said.
