Tucsonan Nadi Carey, a former Flowing Wells and Canyon del Oro basketball standout who went on to play for Pima College, is working her first Division I conference tournament semifinal as a referee on Friday.
Carey will officiate the Ohio Valley Conference tournament semifinal between Austin Peay and Belmont at Evansville, Ind. The game starts at 11 a.m. Tucson time.
“Super blessed and excited,” Carey said. “This is my first year with the OVC so to be given an opportunity like this means the world to me. Always love representing my family and Arizona.”
Carey, an older sister of former CDO and Arizona running back Ka’Deem Carey, officiates in seven Division I conferences — Sun Belt, Big West, Ohio Valley, Conference USA, Mountain West, Big Sky and ASUN.
She worked in the Big Sky previously. This is her first year in the other conferences.
Almost a year after Nadi (pronounced NAH-dee) made headlines becoming a contestant on NBC’s Titan Games (Season 2), she topped that accomplishment last season by making college basketball officiating history.
She was part of the first all-female officiating crew to work an NJCAA Division I championship game when Northwest Florida State beat Trinity Valley 67-60 at Lubbock, Texas, on April 24.
While elevating her status in college officiating she trained for the Titan Games and competed with host Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson looking on. After that experience, Nadi started her personal fitness training business called “Bodi by Nature.”
Nadi, who is also a firefighter, is originally from East Orange, N.J., but has lived most of her life in Tucson.
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator five years ago and is presently a special education teacher at Gallego Fine Arts Intermediate in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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