The Carleton Ravens women’s basketball team was missing two familiar faces when they kicked off their 2011-12 regular season campaign last weekend.
Both Jennifer Stoqua and Darcy Hawkins are on the injury list to start the season — something that has thrown a wrench into Ravens head coach Taffe Charles’s plans.
“I like to play with a lot of people and energy and you can’t do that if you don’t have a lot of bodies,” Charles said.
Stoqua broke the fifth metatarsal in her left foot at the end of June 2010.
She was in a boot for roughly six to eight weeks and returned to the court in mid-September, but re-injured her foot three games into last year’s exhibition play.
After another bone scan, she found out it hadn’t healed properly to begin with.
Stoqua was given the option of sitting out and waiting for surgery or taping it up and playing.
“At that point, it didn’t hurt too much so I decided to play,” she said.
After the Ravens season came to an end, Stoqua had surgery in May. She was on crutches for eight weeks and in a boot for four.
“Come September, things were getting better but then slowly during practices I could do less and less,” she said.
Therapists thought she had broken another bone but yet another scan found the problem came from her surgery. With one pin and four screws already in her foot, two of the screws were too long and were digging into the bone beside her fifth metatarsal. Now, Stoqua must have surgery again soon to shorten the screws.
“My outlook was that if I can’t contribute to the team I’ll stop and get healthy and then see what I can do next year,” she said.
Fellow Raven Hawkins, meanwhile, has been out for close to nine months with a concussion.
“A girl on the team and I hit heads in practice,” she said. “I kind of saw stars and sat out for a bit.”
Hawkins said she tried returning to play a few minutes later, before the therapist pulled her from the action and examined her head. The result: a severe concussion.
Today, although Hawkins has started non-contact practice, she said she continues to experience headaches and dizziness. She hasn’t scrimmaged with the team since the injury, and has to wear earplugs when watching the team play because of her sensitivity to sound.
“I’m hoping after the new year I’ll be good to go but right now it’s day-to-day,” she said.
Both Hawkins and Stoqua are hoping to return to the team either this season or next.
“It was definitely a big downfall for us because we need the talented younger players,” said fourth-year guard Kendall MacLeod.
The women’s roster lists only 12 players, including Hawkins. Charles said he prefers to play the depth of his bench, which leaves no room for injuries. But in an environment where an athlete is playing basketball for at least two hours every day, injuries are just an unfortunate part of the game, he said.
“In hindsight, you want a bigger roster so when injuries happen you have the numbers and that’s something we’re working on for next year,” Charles said.
For now, both Stoqua and Hawkins are focusing on getting better by sitting on the bench or in the stands.
“It kills me,” Stoqua said. “When you’ve done something your whole life and then suddenly have to stop because you can’t compete at that level . . . it’s heartbreaking.”
