SLIPPERY ROCK — Maryann Ackerman couldn't play.

So she did the next best thing.

She cheered.

Loudly.

Ackerman was on top of the world in the late spring of 2019. She had completed her sophomore basketball season at Slippery Rock as the team's leading scorer and then followed that up with a second-place finish in the javelin at the PIAA Track and Field Championships.

Then, things quickly unraveled.

Just 15 days after her silver in Shippensburg, Ackerman tore her ACL during a basketball open gym.

Her junior hoop season was over.

But there was a silver lining — Ackerman would be back for the track and field season. A gold medal was in her sights.

Little did she know a virus was sweeping through China. Then the world.

The COVID-19 pandemic ended her track and field season, too, before it even began.

“The only thing that made it easier losing basketball was the thought of having track, which is my No. 1 sport,” Ackerman said.

Fast forward to now. With Gov. Tom Wolf letting the latest shutdown that delayed the winter sports season until Monday expire, Ackerman is healthy and ready to resume her athletic career at Slippery Rock. Finally.

It's been 22 months — a long 80-plus weeks — since Ackerman played in a meaningful basketball game.

She will soon get that chance again.

“I'm definitely really excited because track got canceled, too. I haven't really done very many sports in two years, basically,” Ackerman said. “Overall, it's just exciting to be back.”

Ackerman scored 13.5 points per game as a sophomore, helping Slippery Rock to a 20-6 record and a trip to the state playoffs.

She also gave the Rockets some toughness on defense. Ackerman plays with an edge.

“She hates to lose,” said Slippery Rock girls basketball coach Amber Osborn. “Everyone hates to lose, but she really hates to lose. If we're in practice and the team she's on loses a drill and has to run, I get nervous watching because she's just so intense and mad because she just doesn't want to lose.”

Ackerman spent last season observing from the bench. She had a chance to perhaps play in the final few games of the season, but decided against it.

“I had to take it slow,” Ackerman said. “Take it at my own pace to just grow confidence in it. I had to learn to play with a new knee, basically.”

Ackerman spent her time studying the game in a different way.

She was still involved in the scouting and in the plays the offense was running.

“She got a lot of experience sitting and watching,” Osborn said. “You see a lot of different stuff when you're sitting instead of playing. I think that will help her game, too.”

Having her back will also help the Rockets, who return the entire roster from last year's 18-8 team.

“When we had open gyms before this last shutdown, it was just unbelievable the difference,” Osborn said of having Ackerman back. “We were just playing 3-on-3, but I'd come home and think this is just nice having her back. Just really nice.

“I know scoring is a big thing,” the coach added, “but it's just the other stuff she does so well.”

Ackerman said she just wants to help the team this season any way she can.

In any role she can.

“We were very successful last year without me,” Ackerman said. “That takes a little of the pressure off.

“I think it will be really fun,” she added. “It was a major injury, but it's not unheard of. People bounce back from it all the time.”