MONROEVILLE — Coach Curt Vasas' eyes welled up and his voice cracked as he tried to find words to describe what senior Sara Montgomery meant to the Knoch girls basketball program.

"The pain she had to go through on a daily basis was tremendous," Vasas said. "But she was just, 'Ice it up and let me go.'"

Montgomery basically played the last half of the season with one arm. Her right shoulder is so damaged, she will need extensive surgery to repair it.

In a quick roll call of injuries, Montgomery sounded like she was rattling off entries from an anatomy text book.

Her shoulder is separated and her labrum torn. There are other ligaments damaged.

But Montgomery played through it.

In her final game, she recorded yet another double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds in a 44-23 loss toWest Mifflin in the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs at Gateway HighSchool Wednesday night.

"After Saturday, I thought there is no way I can play again. I'm done," Montgomery said. "But then on Monday, I was watching practice — I couldn't practice — and there was no way in heck I was going to miss this game."

Montgomery played with her shoulder heavily wrapped.

Fellow senior Lindsay MacArthur was no stranger to overcoming injury. MacArthur came back to play this season after tearing an ACL last year.

Knoch's third senior, Laura Gray, found inspiration in the way her classmates fought off adversity.

"The first playoff game, you could tell she was really hurting," Gray said of Montgomery. "Then there was this one rebound she got — I swear, I have never seen anyone jump that high, she wanted it that badly. Personally, for me, that gave me momentum because it was, 'Wow, she wants to win so badly.'"

The struggles of last season inspired all three seniors.

Knoch was 4-19 in 2007-08. Coming into this season, not much was expected from the Knights.

But Knoch managed to finish third in its section and to beat Mars for the first time in 21 tries since the Planets moved into Class AAA.

"I've been sitting in the stands for I don't know how many years watching (Knoch) lose (to Mars)," Gray said. "And we had some pretty talented teams. It's just never been our time. It was just amazing that my senior year was the time we would get that chance."

Making the postseason was a bigger goal for the Knights.

And while the season didn't end the way the seniors had hoped, they will be able to look back with a sense of accomplishment, Montgomery said.

"It was definitely a better year than last year," Montgomery said. "I'm one of those people who is never really satisfied. But, Iguess I will be able to look back at it and think of it as a satisfying year."