Returning from an Achilles tendon injury is arguably the most difficult injury to overcome in the sports realm.

But when you’ve been through real-life adversity like Curtessia Dean, who had to grapple with the death of her mother, Natasha, as an 18-year-old in 2018, facing adversity in her basketball career doesn’t seem so daunting.

Playing to honor her mother’s memory is what motivated Dean, a 5-foot-9 guard, to rehabilitate from the Achilles injury and what she hopes will lead to an inspirational comeback season in her fifth year of college basketball on the Wichita State women’s basketball team this season.

“My mother was always proud of my basketball career,” Dean said. “She was always like, ‘My baby is going to take me out the hood and get me a house.’ I owe her that promise.

“When I tore my Achilles, I figured I already went through the biggest obstacle so just keep going. I can’t stop going just because of an injury. I have to make her proud.”

Dean was a scoring dynamo her entire career before the injury. She averaged 23.5 points and 14.5 points in her senior year of high school at Wossman in Monroe, La. From there, she was an NJCAA All-American in both seasons at Trinity Valley Community College in Athens, Texas, averaging 17.6 points as a freshman and 19.3 points as a sophomore for a 32-1 team.

WSU women’s basketball coach Keitha Adams fell in love with how easy Dean made scoring look. She still remembers how impressed she was from watching Dean’s first collegiate game of her career at Trinity Valley where the guard poured in a career-high 38 points, including six three-pointers.

“The thing that always impressed me about her was that she found a way to make a play for her team when it was crunch time,” Adams said. “I watched them play a lot and she had the ability to put up a lot of points and score some really big numbers. But she always seemed to step up for her team when they needed a play.”

Adams was relentless in recruiting Dean in 2020, but ultimately lost out to Seton Hall. But the injury happened before she could ever play a Big East game and she sat out the entire 2020-21 season to work her way back.

She returned to play 30 games last season at Seton Hall with modest averages of 4.2 points and 2.5 rebounds in 11.9 minutes per game.

“It was definitely challenging because I was used to scoring all the time,” Dean said. “But I couldn’t let myself get down about it. It was really scary coming back and playing on it again, but I knew it was mostly in my head. Now I’m ready to go.”

Adams remembers the adrenaline rush when she saw Dean’s name pop into the NCAA transfer portal as a graduate transfer.

“I called her the minute she was in there,” Adams said. “I think she really liked that even though I recruited her before and didn’t get her, I circled back and recruited her again.”

Relayed that message, Dean laughed and agreed with her coach’s assessment.

“Even though I told coach Adams no before, she still kept calling every day to check up on me and seeing if I was doing okay,” Dean said. “That meant a lot to me to see that kind of respect from a coach and a head coach at that.

“I feel like (Wichita State’s coaching staff) has helped me get my confidence back with their support and positivity.”

With so much scoring production gone from last season, Adams put her faith in Dean to return to her old scoring prowess for the Shockers. She will likely play the shooting guard and small forward positions and Adams likes her scoring versatility of being able to knock down jumpers and her ability to take advantage of smaller guards in the paint on inverted post-ups.

Dean, who goes by the nickname “NuNu” on the team, has impressed in summer workouts and the first week of official team practice at Koch Arena this week.

“She looks like the player that I remember recruiting out of Trinity Valley,” Adams said. “I have so much confidence in her because I’ve watched her play so many times and I know that she’s a really good ball player. And I think my confidence in her helps her confidence. I know what she’s capable of and we’re all looking forward to seeing her play at a high level this season.”

Dean hopes she can be the latest success story of an athlete recovering fully from an Achilles injury.

“I honestly thought I was going to give it up after the injury, but I just kept going,” Dean said. “It’s going to be a big comeback year for me. Be on the look out.”

Wichita State athletics beat reporter. Bringing you closer to the Shockers you love and inside the sports you love to watch.