(Photo:FIBA)

When her California high-school team, Mater Dei, suffered a three-point loss in last weekend’s Nike Tournament of Champions, Nirra Fields didn’t sleep restfully.

“Woke up today wanting to punch someone in the face ... I hate losing,” the Canadian phenom tweeted.

This past Wednesday, at JSerra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., Fields – born in British Columbia, raised in Montreal – reacted by playing ferocious defence through the first quarter as her team scored the first 21 points in a lopsided game. Fields was all business on the court, smiled rarely, hand-slapped a teammate occasionally. When in possession of the ball, she demonstrated a shooter’s mentality in spite of struggling offensively at the outset, the sort of selfishness that characterizes scorers in any sport.

To read the entire article by Eric Duhatschek and Sean Gordon from The Globe and Mail press here.

‍