Injuries happen in sports.

Elyse Zimmerman has suffered plenty of bumps and bruises while playing basketball.

The Niles 5-7 junior didn’t seem concerned when she didn’t feel right after going for a rebound and colliding with a Benton Harbor basketball player on December 5th.

“I was going after a rebound and I got a knee to the back of my head,” said Zimmerman. “I just shook it off.”

In the following days Zimmerman wasn’t feeling 100 percent.

“I thought I was just coming down with a head cold,” she said. “I thought I was fine. I played in our next game (on December 9th) against Dowagiac.”

Against the Chieftains, Zimmerman become more concerned about her health.

“I pulled myself out of the game because I knew something was messed up,” the standout point guard said. “One of my shots was all the way off to the left and some of my passes were real high.

“I talked to our trainer after that game and he told me I really needed to go see a doctor. The next day I saw a doctor and he told me to stop playing.”

The diagnosis was that Zimmerman had suffered a concussion.

“I really didn’t expect that,” she said. “I never had that happen to me in a game before.”

Zimmerman missed three games but has been like her old self since returning to action.

“I treated it like it was an injury,” Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman is averaging 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists a game for the Vikings.

Last Friday against Portage Central, the scrappy guard scored 17 points, grabbed four rebounds and had six steals in a 63-33 Niles win.

“She’s consistent every night,” said Niles girls basketball coach Phil D’Amico. “She is the quintessential coach on the court. I’ll drop a set and she’ll run it and it works out well.”

D’Amico was most pleased with Zimmerman’s aggressive defense against the Mustangs.

“We continually need to work with her on her defensive ball pressure,” D’Amico said. “We try to push her on that and she kicked it up a notch (defensively against Portage Central).”

Zimmerman, who is a three-year starter, likes the direction the team is headed in. Niles improved to 10-6 with its win over the Mustangs.

“We’ve come together a lot better,” she said. “We’re used to how each other plays. I think we’re going to do well at the end of the year.”

Because the Vikings had a big lead, Zimmerman was on the bench for most of the fourth quarter. She stayed focused on what was happening on the court.

“It was nice to be able to watch everyone else on our team