Spencer eager to shed rust

By Gary Bedore     Nov 7, 2001

Not that Sharonnpencer is anxious, but her first game in a Kansas University basketball uniform will be her first of the millennium.

“It does seem like forever,” said Spencer, who hasn’t played in a game since late February of 1999 when she was a senior at Dominquez High in Compton, Calif.

If it hasn’t been one thing, it’s been another for Spencer, a 6-foot forward who sat out one season because of the rulebook and another because of injury.

Although an honor roll student in high school, Spencer fell shy of compiling a score high enough on the SAT to qualify for an NCAA scholarship. Nevertheless, KU coach Marian Washington took her as a partial qualifier, meaning she couldn’t practice or play during the 1999-2000 season.

“I didn’t think it would be that hard, but it was,” Spencer said. “I felt isolated because I couldn’t travel.”

Still, she was able to concentrate on her studies that’s the point of the NCAA partial qualifier rule and Spencer was primed to make her college debut in 2000-2001.

Then she was struck down again. In fact, she lasted only 15 days into preseason practice.

“I was feeling really strong,” Spencer recalled. “Then on one play I jumped to catch the ball and I came down, and I knew it was something bad.”

It was Oct. 30, 2000, and Spencer had suffered a torn ACL in her right knee. Prognosis: An operation and seven months of rehab until she could even think about returning to the basketball floor.

During the rehab process, she made a concerted effort to hide her disappointment from her teammates who were struggling through an unexpected losing season.

“I tried to be encouraging to my teammates,” she said. “I never showed them it bothered me. That was the last thing they needed to worry about.”

Finally, last June, Spencer was able to play basketball again and she’s been trying to shed the inevitable rust ever since.

“They say my knee is stronger than ever before,” she said, “but I don’t think I’ll ever feel like I used to feel.”

Spencer will have to wear a knee brace, but she says the contraption isn’t a problem, although “every now and then it slides down.”

Spencer, who averaged 14 points and 12 rebounds a game during her senior year in high school, looms as a contributor during what coach Marian Washington has dubbed as a rebuilding season.

“She’s going to be a real important player for us,” Washington said. “She has great size and is an outstanding athlete.”

How long it takes her to overcome the mental aspect of her knee injury and the physical aspect of two-plus years without playing in a game are unanswered questions.

“I just plan on not thinking about it,” Spencer said, “and go into it head first.”

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