Injuries begin to add up

The women's basketball team's season took an unexpected turn on Nov. 9. Junior guard LeeAnn Stephenson stepped up for a lay-up during practice and tore her ACL. It was almost a month later on Dec.17 when freshman guard Kali Kullberg tore her ACL as well. To this day coach Kathi Bennett grimaces at the thought of losing the two players.\n"You can always tell when they go down and what their reaction is," Bennett said. \nKullberg remembers the day clearly and said it started out like any other practice. She wasn't even at full speed when she was running the drill. Kullberg was dribbling to the top of the key to make a pass and stepped forward. She said nothing felt weird and didn't land weird. Kullberg also had no idea how serious the injury was. \nStephenson's story isn't much different than Kullberg's. It was the first drill of practice, a little one-on-one, she said. She went to make a lay-up and heard something pop.\n"I thought it would hurt for awhile but that I'd be back in a few weeks," Stephenson said. "Everyone else seemed to know it was more serious."\nBoth Kullberg and Stephenson were told the bad news after meeting with doctors: They had each torn their ACL.\nKullberg's immediate reaction was a rough one.\n"It was heartbreaking," Kullberg said. "I thought of all the hard work I had done so far in the season, and all of a sudden it was over."\nStephenson said she felt the same way -- the news was terrible. She had only played in an exhibition game and her season was already at an end.\nAnother Hoosier, senior Kristen Bodine is still recovering from the same type of injury. Bennett said there are a lot of different theories concerning why women are so often troubled with ACL injuries. \n"Some say it has a lot to do with the hip and the menstrual cycle," Bennett said. "And the quad string compared to the hamstring, the wideness of the hip."\nWhatever the reason, Bennett and her team could have a different record right now if the two injured women were still playing. The Hoosiers are currently 9-11, 2-8 in the Big Ten.\n"I think we'd have more depth," Bennett said. "I think Kali and LeeAnn were two of our best defenders, so from a defensive standpoint they would have definitely affected us."\nOne thing is for sure, Kullberg and Stephenson said they were both tired of sitting on the bench. Kullberg said it helps push her to recover faster when she has to sit on the sidelines and watch her teammates play in a game without her. \n"You take your time to be upset and everything, but then you have to get over it," Kullberg said. "Rehab is what's going to get you back."\nBennett said both the women are improving at an impressive rate. She said she has seen players bounce back before and believes they can come back better than 100 percent.\n"They are so driven and conscientious and I think they're both so much ahead of schedule," Bennett said. "I think it helps to have both of them so that they're doing things together and pushing each other. If there's a blessing in it, it's that they have each other"