Homegrown talent: Amiah Timothy’s experience at Utah State Eastern

Price is home to Amiah Timothy, and it’s a place she continues to love. There, she attends Utah State University Eastern, where she plays on the USU Eastern Women’s Basketball team. Timothy said she has loved her time at USU Eastern and is excited to see herself and her team develop during her time there.​ 

For her coaching staff, Timothy has been a great addition to the team.  

“She brings a lot to our team in a lot of positive ways,” said head coach Chelsey Warburton. “She’s just always making people laugh and keeping the mood light and is a good player to be around. It’s been fun for us.”​     ​   

According to Warburton, not only is Timothy a positive person, but she has strengths that allow her to be a good teammate, leader and player. 

“She’s a very good communicator. She’s great at talking through things with everybody or asking questions. I just see it continue to grow for her, and that’s come a long way,” Warburton said. “She’s very coachable.”​     ​ 

According to Timothy, part of her strengths come from the struggles she’s faced during her time on the team.  Last year, she had to take a medical redshirt due to a broken foot. Despite this, she has kept her positive attitude and dedicated work ethic in order to continue to grow and improve as an athlete.  ​     ​ 

“It’s been a little bit hard to adapt to that, to try to adjust and try to become the same person I was before,” Timothy said. “Overall, at the end of the day, it makes me a stronger person mentally and helps me try to just find the positive things even when there are hard things in my life.” 

Despite this struggle, Timothy said she has had a phenomenal experience at Utah State Eastern and on her team. ​     ​ 

“I love my team so much. I feel like our coaches recruit girls that have spunky personalities, who get along with each other, who are nice and, you know, just people who are outgoing,” Timothy said. “I feel like our team is exactly that. All of us get along super great. We get a different bunch of personalities on our team, and that’s what makes it all fun.”​     ​ 

Although Timothy loves Utah State Eastern, staying in Price wasn’t always a part of her plan. In high school, Timothy was a three-sport athlete. She competed in soccer, basketball and track, and she lettered in all three sports each year. In basketball, she accrued 1,000 career points, and she averaged 20 points per game. In addition to her successful career, basketball was always her favorite to play and work for.​     ​​     ​ 

“I had more of a drive and more motivation and dedication for basketball. I had the drive to go to the gym all the time, and I had more of a love for it,” Timothy said. “I’ve always wanted to play basketball in college.”​     ​ 

Playing collegiate basketball didn’t necessarily mean playing in Price for Timothy​     ​.  

“I wanted to go play basketball somewhere out of Price. I’ve lived here my whole life. It’s a pretty small town,” Timothy said, “I’m really extroverted, so I want to go find new friends and go make new connections. In my eyes, I thought that that was going to be outside of Price, so I was looking at schools outside of Price.”​     ​​ ​​     ​ 

Despite this desire, Timothy said she loved her teammates and coaches when she chose to come here.   

“I had a great opportunity that my coaches gave me to come play basketball here. It was not what I was really wanting, but as soon as I went on my visit, I learned more about the coaches, which I’ve already had a strong connection with my whole life. I just felt like this school was the best for me,” Timothy said. “I knew that I was going to fit in the best with the girls and the way they coach. No, it was never really my plan to come here, but I’m so glad that I did.”​     ​ 

For Warburton, having Timothy on her team had been a goal for most of the player’s high school career. Timothy checked all of the coaching staff’s boxes for what a good player is.  

“You have to ask, ‘Are they a good defender? Are they good at scoring?’ But a big part for us is just how they act in the hard times,” Warburton said “If they’re in foul trouble or if they’re on the bench or things aren’t going well for them, can they still be that consistent leader or a positive role even if they’re not scoring points?” ​     ​ 

From Warburton’s observation, Timothy stays strong during hard times. In addition to this dedication, she has some natural talent.  

“She’s just very talented. Her size and speed and strength is really intriguing to us, but it fits well with who we are and how we coach,” Warburton said. ​     ​ 

Now that she has recovered from her injury, Timothy said her strength and skills are developing in ways that make her excited for her basketball seasons moving forward.​     ​ 

“You get to watch your effort and all your hard work that you put into it result in better things at the end of the day,” Timothy said.​     ​ 

Warburton has seen her development and said she knows Timothy’s progress will only continue.  

“Her confidence and her consistency just continue to grow each week,” Warburton said. “It’s only going to keep getting better for her.”