The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Berkshire senior comes back, sets school mark
Rachel Breckenridge missed the bulk of her junior year due to a major knee injury. John Kampf checked in with the Berkshire senior, who has set the school record for singleseason 3-pointers.
Rachel Breckenridge simply wanted to play again.
But she’s done better than that.
As the Berkshire girls basketball team winds down its regular season, Breckenridge has carved her name into the Badgers’ record books with 58 3-pointers, eclipsing the former record of 43 triples hit by Emily Giel in 2008.
The record-breaking senior season comes on the heels of a junior season that was halted two games in with multiple ligament tears in her left knee.
“Absolutely, I was worried,” Breckenridge said of how she would bounce back after tearing her ACL and medial meniscus in Game 2 of her junior season. “But I knew if I worked harder than I ever had, I would have a chance. I had one more shot to play, and I wasn’t going to let it slip by me.”
Breckenridge is in a battle with Brush’s Danajah Sanders (who entered the week with 61 3-pointers) for the title as The NewsHerald’s 3-point champion of the 2017-18 season.
More importantly to her, though, is her team, which will wrap up its regular season this weekend against Rootstown before embarking on a Division III tournament trail in the Ravenna District.
Just to have the chance to play for Berkshire, a team she grew up watching from a young age, and to chase down a long-standing record has been gratifying for Breckenridge, in light of her catastrophic junior season.
“It was our second game of the year, and as the buzzer went off, I took a shot and landed wrong,” she said. “I knew it was bad. I heard a loud pop. When that happens, you just know something is really wrong. I had never had an injury before, but I knew.”
Just like that, her junior season was gone.
She thought back to all the time she had spent in the gymnasium, not only honing her own skills, but also watching her beloved Berkshire girls basketball team — a team she aspired to join.
Here it was her first year on varsity as a junior, and her year was done pretty much before it got started.
“But you know what? I knew in my mind I’d be back,” she said. “But I struggled after the surgery just bending my knee. I built up scar tissue pretty fast. When I went for my re-evaluation appointment, they said I wouldn’t be back for a year, and even if I did, I might have a permanent limp.”
Undaunted, Breckenridge continued her tireless rehabilitation in the hopes of getting back to the court. The flexibility in her leg returned, and her silkysmooth shot never waned.
Her comeback campaign has been a rousing success. Through 21 games, Breckenridge is averaging 11.1 points, second on the team to Kayla White’s 14.6.
Her 3-point shooting is a big part of the Berkshire offense.
“It usually takes me a little bit to get going. I’m a second-half player,” Breckenridge said. “Against LaBrae this year, I had one in the first half. But then I had five in the second half. That’s when I set the record.”
Berkshire and LaBrae will face off in the a D-III sectional final next week.
Breckenridge took a deep breath and sighed, thinking back to the countless games she watched the Berkshire girls basketball team, long before she was old enough to wear the purple and gold. She remembers many — if not most — of the players’ names because those were the girls she grew up wanting to be.
Among those she looked up to was Giel, the player whose 3-point record she just shattered.
“I knew Emily was one of the best players to come out of Berkshire,” Breckenridge said. “She went on to play for Heidelberg in the OAC.
“It’s cool to keep making shots and put that record out there even further. But it’s even cooler that some young players might be out there watching and saying, ‘Some day I want to break Rachel’s record and I’m going to do anything to break it.’ ”