Women's basketball on the mend
The team hopes to prevent injuries that weakened the team last season.
Published Nov. 17, 2009
During the course of this season, the Missouri women's basketball team will look to avoid the injury bug that plagued several key members of the team last season.
One of those players was forward Amanda Hanneman. The senior has played sparingly over the past two seasons due to injuries and spent much of the off-season working to get back into game shape. She looks to remain healthy throughout her final season.
The Tigers have played well against both Central Missouri and Northern Iowa this season, but the team is still missing a key player.
Sophomore guard Bekah Mills is the only Tiger out with an injury. She suffered an ACL injury during practice and is not expected to return this season. She also injured her knee during her freshman year and was forced to redshirt the season.
A couple of Missouri players are recovering slowly from injuries. During the Tiger's 74-57 season opening win Sunday against Northern Iowa, senior forward Jessra Johnson and sophomore forward Christine Flores returned to action after sitting out against Central Missouri last week. Neither player was 100 percent healthy, but coach Cindy Stein was still able to start Johnson and give Flores ample playing time. Stein also said she expected to have both of them back at full strength soon.
"Christine's probably at about 70 percent, so she could get there soon," Stein said. "She doesn't have the conditioning level we need her at, so she can't go very long right now. Jessra will bounce back. She started running in the middle of the week, and she's going to have to get her legs back. She'll be fine."
Stein also said Johnson would contribute a lot to the team with her experience and intensity if she remains healthy.
"I think it helps to have a Jessra on the floor," Stein said. "She creates a lot of attention on her. She usually brings a double-double each game. We couldn't play her as long as we wanted to at times. She will bounce back though."
Senior forward Marissa Scott, who set a new personal high in points scored during Sunday's game, said regaining a healthy team has made the beginning of this season a little easier.
"I think it makes practice easier because we have more people," Scott said. "This year with having more people, we have a lot of great chemistry. With people going in and coming out, there's not a lot of drop-off. I think that everyone is contributing a lot."
Hanneman, who also had a career high in points scored during Sunday's game, said she enjoyed the atmosphere having a healthy team creates.
"To have more depth and have people actually healthy makes us trust each other more," Hanneman said. "There's a lot of trust with each other."