By Ben_Leighton. Published Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

One senior is showing support for the North Central High School girls basketball team simply by being back on the court.

The N.C. girls basketball team is off to a good start, and part of the reason for their success is the presence of Mariah Alexander.

The senior is not a starter, and sometimes doesn't even play, but the fact that she is out on the court at any time is more than enough reason for her teammates to follow.

"I was riding an R.T.V. Kaboda with my cousins and it tipped, and my foot got caught on the side and it crushed all my bones and tore all my tendons, pretty much destroyed it," Mariah said.

That incident happened after her sophomore season and it changed her life forever. For the next year, Mariah tried to do rehab, but ultimately she had to make an extremely difficult decision.

"My options were, live with what I had, which was pretty much a club foot for the rest of my life, or get it amputated. And being 17 at the time, living with what I had, not being able to run or anything again wasn't an option," Mariah said.

"Tuesday night, we had a nice big win and she was just amazing. Yelling and screaming and, I don't think she calmed down 'till yesterday, so it's been great to have her as a leader and an inspiration to the team for sure," said Indians coach Gabe Medrano.

Medrano says Mariah's presence has helped his team get off to a 4-2 start in the Greater Spokane League. It's been hard for her at times, but the coach says Mariah always pushes on.

"From what I've seen, she's been very brave. It was a decision she chose, she wanted to giver herself a chance to walk again, to play basketball and to play sports, and everything I've seen she's taken it with great strides and done a great job," Medrano said.

For Mariah, the decision was easy. She says no matter what, there was no way the injury would prevent her from playing basketball again.

"Never, it was always right there in front of me, that was my goal, no matter happened I was going to get back on the court before I graduated," Mariah said.