2008 Woodie Awards
Lady Raiders move on with adversity
Injury to Brandi Brown, conference win streak ending, and Johnna Abney taking leave of absence makes remaining ladies on team "band" together for the remainder of season
Richard Lowe
Issue date: 2/4/08 Section: Sports
|
In the span of three weeks, sophomore Brandi Brown broke a bone in her hand, their 26-game conference win streak was snapped by Western Kentucky, and junior Johnna Abney took an indefinite leave of absence. According to Khadija Head, assistant coach for MT's women's basketball team, Coach Rick Insell kept his team alert.
"Coach Insell always kept us focused as far as keeping us together as a team," Head said. "He always says that God will put some mountains in your way in order for you to get to some great things so it was just another obstacle in our way."
When Brown broke her hand, the team was preparing to take on Western Kentucky is the first of their annual two-part rivalry. Losing Brown ended up being huge, being that Insell's Lady Raiders have been outsized in almost every game they have played in this year.
"I don't think Brandi had ever been hurt [until her recent hand injury] and it had been tough on her," Insell said. "She is such a competitor. She is a very important piece of the puzzle for the basketball program."
"I thought Brandi was trying to lead us on and off the court."
She was out for a month but made her return Thursday in an away contest against Louisiana-Lafayette, an 85-66 victory for MT.
The loss of Abney brought the spirits down around the locker room, as Coach Insell explains. "I guess it would be much like if someone had passes away," Insell said. "I don't think they were in shock but everyone was quiet. I don't know if they were hurt but they were kind of stoic."
"Amongst the team it was talked about that day," Head said. "Johnna and her parents came in and talked with the coaching staff and she let us know she was leaving. We were sad to lose Johnna but if she wasn't going to be happy here then we can't force anyone to stay here."
With the team feeling down, Coach Insell sat down with them during one of their practices to try consoling them. "Going through practice, we sat down and talked and said I hated it as much as everyone there because Johnna was one of our girls," Insell said. "But we have to keep moving because we have a game at Troy."
Be the first to comment on this story