Stanford commit and Apex Friendship star Indya Nivar takes setting an example seriously

Indya Nivar continues to amaze people with her skill on the basketball court. The 5-foot-10 Apex Friendship senior and Stanford University commit added another accolade this week when she was named to the McDonald’s All-America game roster, an honor reserved for the top players in the country.

Nivar is the Patriots’ leading scorer (19 points per game), rebounder (8), and leads in assists (4), as well. But she stresses that playing defense was the piece of her game that she developed first, and considers key to everything else. To wit, Nivar’s 3-plus steals per game rank second on the team — a shade behind her sister, ninth-grader Jasmine, for whom she tries to set the best example every day.

“I’m trying to make myself a model for my sister, and make sure she believes in herself, and that she can achieve those same things,” Nivar said. “You can’t be the best without your team.”

Big week for Nivar

Apex Friendship (18-1, 9-1) capped a big week for the program, one that started with Indya Nivar’s All-American announcement, by avenging its lone loss of the season on Friday. The visiting Patriots stopped Southwest Wake 4A Conference rival Panther Creek, 62-59 in overtime, to move into a first place tie for the conference lead. Panther Creek won the teams’ first meeting, 72-65, on December 17 at Apex Friendship.

The Patriots closed out Friday’s win with Nivar on the bench after she was whistled for five fouls, which may not necessarily have been a bad thing.

Apart from illustrating Nivar’s insistence on a team-first attitude, the rest allowed her to practice some self preservation. Earlier in the fourth quarter, Nivar rolled her ankle and exited the game briefly before returning. Nivar, who aspires to be an orthopedic surgeon, did almost everything except treat her own injury Friday. Even theopposing coach Friday, Panther Creek’s Danielle Sullivan, made sure to check in on Nivar after the game.

“You have big things ahead of you,” Sullivan told Nivar in the hallway outside teams’ locker rooms. “You just need to be healthy.”

All heart and hustle

A healthy Nivar is one of a kind, in deed and word. True to her defense-first mentality, she began Friday’s third quarter with a steal and layup in the first 30 seconds to open the scoring and a seven-point Patriots lead.

“Hustle back,” Apex Friendship coach Scott Campbell said after a missed Patriots shot nearly two and a half minutes later.

Nivar ran more than half a vertical court length and horizontally, almost sideline to sideline, to intercept a Panther Creek pass. Nivar’s foot landed on the sideline, much to her dismay.

“I like to show my teammates that I’m going to put the effort in,” Nivar said. “And I want you guys to match that energy as well.”

Two sharp Nivar passes assisted on 3-pointers by teammates Victoria Sagne and Jada Coleman in the third quarter’s final four minutes. Nivar went to the bench with more than a minute remaining in the period, only to be heard from, time and again.

Nivar was Apex Friendship bench’s loudest cheerleader on Coleman’s 3-point play at the 1:04 mark. Nivar then praised the Patriots defense for forcing a five-seconds call.

“You want your best player to be your hardest worker. She sets a good example,” Campbell said. “She’s combined being a really good player and a really good leader by being positive.”

Busy schedule ahead

Nivar is positive, too, about her upcoming pursuits. Before the March 29 McDonald’s game in Chicago, helping Apex Friendship to its first N.C. High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) team state championship is an articulated goal. Thereafter, Nivar, who once also competed in gymnastics and is still an Apex Friendship volleyball player, plans to throw the shot put for the Patriots’ track and field team.

“When I’m doing all these different sports, it kind of works different muscles,” Nivar said. “So, when I come back to basketball, I am performing a little bit better, a little bit stronger.”

Nivar’s forthcoming journey to Stanford will be a landmark one. Rarely has a North Carolinian traveled so far out of state initially to compete for a perennial national contender. Stanford, the reigning NCAA champion, has won three national titles and made 14 Final Four appearances among coach Tara VanDerveer’s 35 seasons.

“If she goes out there and has some success, that may open the door for some other people,” Campbell said. “If she trusts you, she’s going to listen to what you say. She’s going to work her tail off.”

Meanwhile, back at Apex Friendship, Nivar’s commitment to excellence — and that penchant for working her tail off — has brought her within 100 points of scoring 2,000 in her high school career, and it’s now a matter of “when,” not “if,” Nivar will achieve that milestone.

Even without scoring a single point in Friday’s overtime, Nivar embraced the role she knew her teammates needed her to play. And like the past four years, on Friday, Nivar needed her teammates, too.

“I put my pride in helping them, cheering them on. I wanted to instill confidence in them,” Nivar said. “They performed really well tonight, and they got it done.”

This story was originally published January 31, 2022 at 5:00 AM.