This is story No. 3 for this week (and the first Athlete of the Week for the winter sports season). File photos of Paz-Garcia were taken by me in Dec. of 2023.
For most of the last two years, knee injuries have robbed Jolie Paz-Garcia of the opportunity to make an impact on the court for Lyndhurst.
But with her knees feeling healthy and standout forward Brooke Harper sidelined with her own injuries, Paz-Garcia has not only returned to the starting lineup, but made the most of the unexpected opportunity.
On Dec. 27, Paz-Garcia scored a career-high 18 points to go with eight rebounds in Lyndhurst’s 47-40 victory over Midland Park. Seven days later, at Weehawken, Paz-Garcia picked up her first career double-double, finishing with 14 points and 18 rebounds in a 46-34 win for the Golden Bears.
Paz-Garcia’s back-to-back big games makes her The Observer Athlete of the Week, the first of 2025.
“The past weeks have honestly been great,” said Paz-Garcia, a 6-foot-0 senior. “I’ve had a very rough time with my injuries since it’s been both knees. But these past two with my team have just been amazing. My injuries have kinda subsided and my teammates are always encouraging me.
“Right now, I’m probably playing the best basketball I’ve played throughout all four years. I think last year was really rough, but I think this year I’m back to playing how I know I can play.”
In seven games this season, Paz-Garcia is averaging 9.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per contest. Her 63 points are more than Paz-Garcia scored during her sophomore and junior seasons combined due to the injuries.
“I see a smile and I see joy and I see a lot of passion, which is something that, just watching from afar over the last year, I didn’t really see from her,” said first year head coach Dan Kesack. “I’m just happy that she was able to build her confidence back up and is having fun playing basketball.
Paz-Garcia’s play reminds Kesack of the player he saw back when he was an assistant coach and Paz-Garcia started as a freshman.
“When she was a freshman, she was a starter for us and she was a great player, so I knew what she was capable of,” Kesack said. “For me, it was just finding ways to get her confidence back, get her on the court.”
As a freshman, Paz-Garcia averaged 5.0 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. But before the start of her sophomore season, Paz-Garcia dislocated her left kneecap, an injury that limited her to six games.
Paz-Garcia admitted that the initial injury and trying to protect it, led to issues with the other knee as well. So while Paz-Garcia played 24 games off the bench, by her own admission she “did not feel like myself at all,” while averaging 1.6 points and 2.3 rebounds per game.
“I’ve had issues with both knees for a while,” said Paz-Garcia. “But with a lot of (physical therapy) and doctor’s visits and a lot of training, I’ve been able to push through.”
The last of those injuries was a partial dislocation of her right kneecap in October. Incredibly, the diagnosis was a sigh of relief for Paz-Garcia as the initial fear was that she had torn her meniscus, which would have resulted in season-ending surgery.
“We were talking about surgery options and all that and I went through two MRIs,” Paz-Garcia said. “The second one revealed that my meniscus was fine, it was just that my knee cap had slightly shifted.
“We were preparing for the worst, but ultimately, it ended up with a good result.”
Good results from the doctor’s office were rare these past two years for Paz-Garcia.
With so much time missed due to injuries, Paz-Garcia has, at times, thought about what could have been. Fortunately for her and Lyndhurst, she now has this chance to show it on the court.
“Quite often, I always wonder what my high school basketball career would be like if I did not get injured. And I believe it would have been much different if I did not get injured,” said Paz-Garcia. “But I’m just glad that I get to show it in my last year.”
Learn more about the writer ...
Jason Bernstein | Observer Sports Writer
Jason Bernstein joined The Observer as its sports writer in March 2022, following the retirement of Jim Hague. He has a wealth of sports-writing experience, including for NJ Advance Media (nj.com, The Jersey Journal, The Star-Ledger.)