Berkmar Girls Basketball Challenged by Adversity

Following a spate of knee injuries, Berkmar girls basketball players might joke of new team rules:

For safety, no fast running, jumping or rambunctious play.

Knee injuries ended two players' seasons and sidelined another for several weeks, severely jeopardizing the Patriots' 10-4 start once the season resumes against visiting Archer on Jan. 7.

Senior guard Shamicka Martin, whose season-beginning knee injury never properly healed, underwent surgery on Dec. 21 and is expected to be out for three weeks. Sophomore guard Nina Williams had knee surgery the same day, but isn't expected back. Perhaps the biggest blow, however, was Berkmar losing its leading scorer, Ka'Vonne Towns, to a season-ending knee ligament tear against Sprayberry two weeks ago.

Towns, a Tennessee-Chattanooga signee, averaged 17 points, four assists and three steals.

"You hear of these things happening, but I've never been part of a team as snake-bit as this one," Patriots coach Todd McCutcheon said. "How do you start the season with [Teanna Robinson's] colon surgery, then have three knee injuries less than halfway through the season?

"We talk about obstacles getting in our way, but we're getting a pretty steady dose of that," the coach added. "We're still battling, though, still fighting and still believing in ourselves without one of the best players in the region [Towns]."

Berkmar rallied without Towns to beat Sprayberry in overtime, 48-43, and went 2-1 since in finishing third in Houston County's Bear Brawl. McCutcheon said the Patriots were dispirited the night they learned Towns was lost for the season, and it showed as they saw their seven-game win streak ended by Winder-Barrow, 67-50.

McCutcheon said players must adjust to new roles without Williams and Towns and minus Martin for perhaps another half-dozen games. To reach a fifth straight postseason, the Patriots will rely on senior guard Kenisha Watkins' average of 12 points, as well as several younger players.

Down the stretch run in Region 8-AAAAA, the Patriots need scoring from players including sophomores Amy Adame and Daijah Cooke, as well as junior Jazmine Green. Adame netted a team-high 15 and Cooke and Greene 11 apiece in Berkmar's 25-point victory over Houston County in the Bear Brawl consolation final.

"We've got to push through it," Cooke said of the injuries. "We just have to step up and play. We have no other choice."

Robinson, who was two rebounds short of a third consecutive double-double against Houston, said good teams overcome injuries.

"We can't just give up because some of our best players are out," she said. "This is the time to pick each other up, the time to really joint together and become a team."