Read back on the boards
Brittany Read has rebounded nicely.
Read, a fifth-year post with the University of Regina Cougars women’s basketball team, missed all of the 201011 Canada West season with a knee injury — the effects of which also hampered her during the ’11-12 campaign.
But Read appears to be back to her former self, at least based on her rebounding numbers.
Entering tonight’s game against the host Calgary Dinos, Read is tied for second in Canada West with an average of 9.0 rebounds per game.
That’s reminiscent of her play during the 2009-10 season, when the 6-foot-2 post led the conference with a rebounding average of 9.8 per game.
“She has always been pretty good, especially at the defensive end, at getting and keeping position,” Regina head coach Dave Taylor said. “She’s big and she’s strong.
“The other thing is, on the offensive end, the keys are (a) desire and (b) having a sense of where the ball is coming off — and she has those.”
Read, 23, surpassed a career milestone during Friday’s 78-63 victory over the visiting Alberta Pandas.
Her sixth of nine rebounds in that contest was the 600th of her Cougars career, allowing her to join Jackie Moore (670) and Chelsea Cassano (662) as the only U of R women’s players ever to reach that number.
“It’s huge to me,” Read said. “The company I’m in is amazing; they’re legends at the U of R.
“Jackie Moore is one of the best players in the history of the U of R. To be in the same group with her is something I could only dream of.”
In the fall of 2010, however, Read went through a nightmarish scenario.
Named a first-team Canada West all-star following the 2009-10 season, Read suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee during a pre-season game Oct. 2, 2010. The injury ended her season.
Read rehabilitated the knee throughout the 2010-11 campaign and returned to the Cougars for the ’11-12 season, but she wasn’t the player she had been previously.
One of the conference’s leading scorers in 2009-10, Read averaged only 7.9 points last season — lower even than the 8.2 points per game she put up as Cassano’s backup in ’08-09.
Read’s conditioning and flexibility had to be addressed, so she spent the summer of 2012 playing with a Calgary-based travelling team. The results have been evident on the court this season.
In addition to her typical work on the glass, Read also is averaging 14.1 points per game, good for a tie for 13th in the conference.
“I’m way more confident,” she said. “I don’t have the mental lapses that I had, those flashes that I was going to get injured again. Those are gone.”
Perhaps, but Taylor isn’t taking any chances.
All of his players can expect more time off between games (as in fewer practices) and during games down the stretch. In Read’s case, for example, she may get spelled more often by backup Jennilea Coppola.
“Playing more has helped Brittany, but at the same time, sometimes her knee gets sore,” Taylor said. “It’s not going away.
“Right before Christmas, she was not as good on it as she was at the start of the year. She’s pretty good again now, but it’s all about managing it.”
Read agreed that she needed a break over the holidays, but admitted she also ran a lot over Christmas to work on her fitness.
The idea of wearing down again before the post-season is not a major concern for her.
“At this point of the year, adrenaline kicks in,” Read said. “(Tiring) could be something to think about, but it’s one of those mental things you just have to push through.”
Regina and the Dinos enter the series tied for first place in the Prairie Division with 14-2 records.
In addition to thinking about top spot, the Cougars also remember that Calgary eliminated them from goldmedal contention at the 2012 CIS championship tournament.
That outcome, as much as coming back completely from her knee injury, is what’s driving Read.
“It would be great to go out on a winning note,” said Read, whose team has an automatic berth in the 2013 tournament as the host entry. “We remember what last year felt like and that’s a huge motivation this year.”
ihamilton@leaderpost.com