SLIPPERY ROCK — Jenna Whitmer played in five games last season, was on the court for just a few minutes at a time and scored only 12 points.

But they were the most important games, minutes and points in the Slippery Rock senior point guard’s career.

Whitmer wasn’t even supposed to play one second last season as a junior after emerging as a star during a sophomore season in which she averaged 15.3 points per game — 19.5 in her last 10.

She tore the ACL in her right knee in late summer and thought she was done.

“It was heartbreaking,” Whitmer said. “A lot of people said I wouldn’t be back. But I set my mind to it.”

She hit a 3-pointer in her first game back Feb. 1 against rival Grove City — six months and 19 days after surgery to repair her shredded ACL. Nine more points followed in the next four games.

But that wasn’t the point. The point was she was back despite people saying it was impossible. She was laying the early groundwork for her biggest return — her senior season, which begins Dec. 9.

“It meant a lot,” Whitmer said. “I didn’t get a lot of minutes, but I got to put the uniform back on and I got to get on the court again with my teammates.”

Whitmer rehabilitated her knee three times a week to get back.

“I had motivation,” she said. “It was a hard process, but I wanted to get back for the team and worked hard to get there.”

Whitmer said she learned a lot about the game of basketball while she was away from the court.

She spent every game on the bench, sitting next to then-head girls basketball coach John Tabisz and assistant Amber Osborn, who took over the program this season. Whitmer got a different perspective on the game, which she said has already helped her.

What she learned off the court, however, proved to be just as important.

“I learned to appreciate things so much more,” Whitmer said. “There’s so much more things in life. I had to reteach myself how to walk and run (after the surgery). Some days were harder than others. But now I’m ready for the next chapter.”

The first page of that chapter has already been written.

Osborn said Whitmer is stronger and faster than she was before the injury. And her step-back jumper is as lethal and hard to stop as ever.

There’s also a definite fire in her, even if she doesn’t often express it verbally.

“She talks about as loud as a mouse,” Osborn said. “She’s very quiet. I’m trying to get her to be more vocal — point guards are usually vocal. I think she’s doing more of that now.”

It’s easy for Whitmer to be fired up about this team.

She is surrounded by seniors who all have a particular set of skills that augment what she can do on the floor.

They’ve also played together for many years and are more than the sum of their parts when they take the court.

“We’re pretty excited,” Whitmer said. “We’re also pretty motivated. We’ve been working hard preparing for the season.”

Whitmer will take the floor with a sleeve on her knee, a reminder of the injury that robbed her of most of her junior year.

But that’s about as much as she’ll think about it.

The past, she says, is the past.

“It feels normal,” Whitmer said. “I feel normal.”