Kyle Grabowski Story 2

The walking woundedInjuries pile up for CSU women’s basketball team
By Kyle Grabowski

The CSU women’s basketball team roster lists 12 players, but the Rams only go eight bodies deep during games due to injuries. Afull third of the team has to watch the game in nice shoes and dress slacks while waiting to return to health.
Head coach Kristen Holt has been coaching basketball for 15 years and has never seen so many injuries befall one team in the span of a year. “When you look at the people that are out there, they’repeople who would be playing a lot of minutes for us or maybe even starting,” she said. “I think that affects your team and the way you do things.”
Junior forward Megan Heimstra has not played this year with a hip injury and decided to redshirt in order to retain an extra year of NCAA eligibility. Heimstra led the team in rebounding last year with 7.9 per game.
Transfer Kelly Hartig, a 6-foot-3 junior forward who originally played at the University of Virginia, played in five games early this season before injuring her shin in practice during a non contact drill on Jan. 8. Hartig is only on one crutch now and expects to return at some point in March.
With the injuries to key post players, CSU has been forced to rely on a more guard-oriented lineup. “If we had more size then we’d look to more post-to-post screens and get the ball inside,” Holt said. “We would have a more post-oriented offensive game.”
Guards, however, have not been immune to the injury plague. Freshman Mandy Makeever played in one game before an elbow injury planted her on the bench for every other game thus far. Senior Zoi Simmons has missed the last nine games with a foot injury, but is expected to return soon after doing some shooting drills this week.
The primary difference between being active and being injured for most players has been the amount of time spent rehabbing rather than practicing.
“I have to put a bunch of time into rehab and getting cardio back,” Heimstra said. “It takes a lot of time, but it’s worth it.”
Simmons’ rehab work has paid off, as she didn’t notice much of a difference in her daily routine due to an already robust physical fitness plan. “You only put in 15 minutes or an hour per day of rehab, so it doesn’t take up all your time,” she said.
Even with a reduction in the amount of healthy bodies on the team, Holt hasn’t seen a corresponding drop in her team’s effort on the court.
“The really positive thing is that we’ve responded really well,” she said. “We haven’t allowed excuses to enter in and we just keep playing hard.”