Many happy returns for a Rocket
SLIPPERY ROCK — It was only a couple of minutes, but it was the best couple of minutes Bre Northcott has spent since April.
A junior forward on the Slippery Rock High girls basketball team, Northcott stepped onto the court in a varsity game Thursday for the first time since tearing two ligaments in her left knee in the spring.
She wasn't on the court long and scored only four points, but that mattered little to Northcott.
What mattered was being back in uniform and competing again, long before many thought she would.
“I was so excited to get into the game and to be able to play,” said Northcott, a 5-foot-11 inside presence that the young Rockets have sorely missed.
Even a month ago, the prospect of Northcott playing this season was bleak.
Slippery Rock coach Adrienne Orris said she hoped to get Northcott back at some point, but wasn't banking on it.
Northcott, who averaged more than six points per game off the bench last season, played a few junior varsity minutes Monday. Against a struggling Oil City team in a 65-25 win Thursday, Orris felt confident enough to put her most experienced and polished post player into the game.
For Northcott, it was liberating.
Off the court, her thoughts never wander far from the injury that required two surgeries to repair.
“When I'm not playing, I think about it all the time,” Northcott said. “What if this happens or that happens.”
When she is playing, those concerns melt away.
“I'm kind of the opposite of most people, I guess,” she says. “When I play, I forget all about it.”
The bulky knee brace is a reminder, however, even though she is pain free for the first time since an opponent's knee slammed into the side of hers during an AAU basketball game April 11, snapping her ACL, MCL and meniscus.
“It feels great,” Northcott said. “I just have to keep working, keep at it. I have the best say in how much I can do.”
By spring, Northcott is hoping she can do a lot for the Slippery Rock girls track and field team.
Northcott competed in only two meets last season, but she finished No. 2 on the Butler County track and field honor roll in both the javelin and discus.
“It was real disappointing,” Northcott said. “I got to the state meet as a freshman and my goal as sophomore was to get there, too. I thought I could do it, but the injury happened.
“I'm just excited to be back.”
