During Saturday’s BYU men’s basketball game against West Virginia, an 11-year-old cancer survivor left fans in awe when she joined the BYU Cougarettes at center court.
Just before halftime, Alivia Natter — a non-Hodgkin lymphoma survivor — appeared with the nationally ranked Cougarettes for a timeout performance, according to the Daily Universe.
In a video posted on X by the BYU Cougars account, the Cougarettes are shown performing one of their hip-hop routines.
Halfway through the performance, Cosmo carries Natter on his shoulder out to the middle of the court. Once she’s on the ground, she begins to do the Cougarettes' choreography without missing a beat.
On the video, you can hear the crowd erupt into cheers as they witness the 11-year-old move right in time with the rest of the Cougarettes.
After the performance, Natter was hoisted back onto Cosmo’s shoulder and exited the stage like a champion, reported The Daily Universe.
And her time with the team didn’t stop there.
According to The Daily Universe, Natter got the whole Cougarette experience, from meeting and practicing with them the day before to cheering alongside them during Saturday night’s game and meeting other college athletes.
Alivia’s fight to center court
According to The Daily Universe, Natter’s battle with cancer first started when doctors found an issue with a lymph node in her groin in February 2024.
By March, she was diagnosed with stage three non-Hodgkin anaplastic large-cell lymphoma and began chemotherapy treatments.
Natter had chemo treatments every three weeks until August 2024. That’s when she was able to ring the bell, announcing that she was cancer-free, reported The Daily Universe.
While her chemotherapy stopped her from having a normal summer, it didn’t stop her from doing what she loved: dancing.
According to The Daily Universe, Natter has been dancing for “as long as she can remember” and performs in competitions back home in Temecula, California.
“She was tough and positive through everything,” said Natter’s mom, Steffani, according to The Daily Universe. “She always had a smile and kept dancing even if it was just at home in the living room.”
So when the Make-A-Wish Foundation contacted the family last December, Natter’s wish was to dance with the Cougarettes.
“I’ve been wanting to be a Cougarette since I was little,” Natter said, according to The Daily Universe.
When her moment at center court in the Marriott Center came, she didn’t disappoint.
“BYU Sports Nation” host Spencer Linton said he’d “put her in the line up,” according to a post on X from the BYUtv Sports Nation account.
Natter gave fans an unforgettable performance with the biggest smile on her face.