Back and ready for more

Jade Hughes is once again playing like Jade Hughes, and while she never doubted for a minute that the day would come, she's glad to see it nonetheless.

Hughes, point guard for the College of Charleston women's basketball team, finally feels fully recovered from a head injury that caused her to miss all of last season.

Her recent play is a big reason why the Cougars (13-5, 6-4 Southern Conference) are riding a five-game winning streak heading into today's 1 p.m. SoCon game against Elon at Carolina First Arena.

"This is probably the first time where I feel like I'm back almost to the point where I was before my accident," said Hughes, a

5-6 junior from Spartanburg who is averaging a team-leading 14.4 points and 4.4 assists per game during the Cougars' current winning streak. "I didn't realize how difficult it was going to be, just to get back into shape, and get into playing shape and feeling good about my game in general."

For Hughes, the return to the top of her game has been an ongoing battle since the night of Sept. 14, 2007 when she was struck by a car in downtown Charleston while crossing the street.

"I was outside my house on a Friday night," Hughes said. "I saw a friend across the street. I went to go speak to him and when I was crossing back over, a guy came around the corner. I didn't see him. He didn't see me. I don't remember anything after that until I woke up in the hospital. It was not a good feeling."

Hughes suffered a fractured skull, but no other serious injuries, and the early prognosis was that she would be fine in a few weeks and would be able to resume school and basketball.

"I felt pretty good," Hughes said. "Then I would try to get up and move around the house, and it was like, 'There's something wrong. There's no way.' I was getting huge headaches. I went back to the doctor and he advised that I take a semester off."

Prior to her injury, Charleston's team revolved around Hughes. As a sophomore, she led the Southern Conference in assists while averaging a team-leading 11.1 points per game.

Charleston coach Nancy Wilson said Hughes' absence from the lineup was a big reason why the Cougars were picked to finish last in the 11-team SoCon in a preseason poll of the league's coaches.

But in her absence, the Cougars pulled together. Bolstered by the play of freshman point guard Tonia Gerty, Charleston was the surprise team of the SoCon, finishing a respectable 14-16, including a 9-9 conference record that put the Cougars in fifth place.

For Hughes, watching her teammates succeed without her was bittersweet.

"We did really well last year," she said. "I was happy for them, but I really wanted to be a part of it. It was kind of frustrating."

While her teammates were busy shocking the SoCon, Hughes returned to school for the second semester of last season and concentrated on academics.

"It was really hard," she said. "I couldn't do anything for six months. And then I had to start doing things slowly, like going outside and jogging for a little bit. I'm used to going fast. I was concentrating on school, so I didn't really get to work out with the team."

That changed when the team traveled to Costa Rica in May for five exhibition games, giving Hughes a jump start on her comeback.

"I think it was probably a plus for her to get to go to Costa Rica with us and play with the team over there," Wilson said. "That started getting her back into it and getting some cobwebs out. All along, I felt like she would come back and play extremely well for us. But with any type of injury, a player's got to start feeling secure again."

Hughes began the season at the point guard spot, and although she showed flashes of her old self, it wasn't until a Jan. 10 victory at Appalachian State that Hughes began to truly resemble the Hughes of old.

She scored 14 points to go with eight assists in the first victory of what is now a five-game winning streak for the Cougars.

She followed that effort with 19 points in an upset of Davidson, including the game- winning basket, and that earned her Southern Conference Player of the Week honors.

"Against Appalachian, she played with a look in her eye that looked like the old Jade," Wilson said. "She carried that in against Davidson and played exceptionally well. Since the Appalachian game, she has just played like a different player."

Now the Cougars carry a formidable one-two punch at point guard with Hughes and Gerty, and rate a solid chance of pushing into the upper echelon of the Southern Conference.

For Hughes, it's an exciting time that she plans to savor.

"Coming back from the accident, it made me work hard, which is always a good thing," she said. "I appreciate the success we're having. I don't take anything for granted."