Brehm battles back
CHERRY TWP — Ashley Brehm spends halftime lying on her stomach in the Moniteau girls basketball team’s locker room as the trainer rubs down her back and applies ice and heat.
It’s the only way Brehm, the lone senior on the Warriors’ roster, can get through a game.
Brehm has had back issues since she fell head first into a pool when she was 11 and crushed her T4 vertebra, which has caused years of discomfort.
“There’s nothing that really makes it feel good,” Brehm said. “I want to feel good. I want to know what it feels like to be healthy and play basketball because I don’t even know what would happen if I was healthy.”
Even in pain, Brehm has put Moniteau on her sore back for the last month and has helped the Warriors reach the District 9 Class AA playoffs.
Brehm, a point guard, has averaged 14.7 points in her last six games after barely scoring four per contest in the season’s first two months.
She has gone on a 3-point shooting barrage as well and is second in Butler County in that category with 33.
“I think a lot of people are saying, ‘Where did that come from?’” said Moniteau girls basketball coach Matt Stebbins. “Ashley has come out of nowhere.”
Brehm had built her reputation on defense and crisp passing.
Last year, she averaged a mere 3.9 points per game, but was one of the reasons why the Warriors reached the District 9 Class AA championship game, where they lost to Cranberry, and then nearly upset Keystone Oaks in the first round of the state playoffs.
Recently, Brehm has decided to shoot — and score — more often.
“I’ve always been the person who was OK with getting the most assists, the most steals,” Brehm said. “Now, it’s my senior year and I want to be remembered.”
Brehm, who is only 5-foot-2, has still done the things that made her a standout player before the points started to come.
“She’s always the smallest girl on the floor, but she’s had games of double-digit rebounds,” Stebbins said. “I think a lot of people doubted her and that makes her push even more. She’s one of the toughest kids I’ve ever coached, male or female. She’s a warrior.”
And she, and her teammates, have something to prove.
Brehm said she often feels like she is on an island. As the only senior, she doesn’t have a teammate to commiserate with.
Because the team is so young, not many outside of the gym walls gave the Warriors much of a chance to compete for a playoff spot this season.
“Even though everyone around us — everyone — didn’t believe (we could make the playoffs), I did,” Brehm said. “We became a family. As a family, we have each other’s backs. I wouldn’t ask for anyone else to be my team. They are amazing. I just had to get them to believe what I believed.”
And when Brehm talks, her teammates listen.
She is the unquestioned leader. It’s a role she’s always relished.
And Stebbins has leaned on Brehm greatly this season.
“She’s been a great role model for the younger girls, including her sister (sophomore Alycia),” Stebbins said. “She’s so strong physically and mentally. Her desire to win is tremendous — as much as I hate to lose, she hates it more. She’s everything you would want out of a senior point guard.”
