Not even a serious knee injury can keep Madi Thomson from enjoying her final season of girls basketball.
The Lena High School senior tore the ACL in her left knee last summer while playing club basketball, her second ACL injury in four years.
ACL injuries usually require surgery — along with months of rehabilitation and physical therapy — and the setback kept Thomson from competing in cross country this past season.
Basketball, however, was a different story altogether.
Thomson initially decided to put surgery on the back burner until after the season. She wore a brace on her leg, played in 10 of the Wildcats’ first 12 games and helped Lena open the season with 11 straight wins before a 49-35 home loss to Crivitz on Jan. 8.
She surpassed 1,000 points in her career with a 23-point effort in the Wildcats’ season opener, a 60-13 win over Gresham on Nov. 20. She was the team’s second-leading scorer and third-leading rebounder until she reinjured her knee.
“Oh, sure, I knew there was a risk (of reinjury),” Thomson said. “I wanted to play so bad. My parents, my doctors, they weren’t so sure, but I knew I wanted to play.”
Instead of scoring, rebounding and dishing out assists, Thomson now has a different role on the team as the Wildcats are well on their way to another M&O Conference championship.
She was cheering from the team bench Jan. 29 during the Wildcats’ 51-21 win over Gillett. Crutches help her get around now, as she had surgery on her knee a few weeks ago.
“I’m here to support my team,” she said. “That’s what I want to do, and that’s what I’ll do.”
Lena girls basketball coach Tim Goldschmidt isn’t surprised Thomson decided to give basketball a try this season.
“It shows you what kind of a kid she is,” he said. “I know it was a tough decision for her, but she decided to finish her high school career and then have surgery.”
Thomson’s absence from the court is now giving her teammates more opportunities to score — including her sister, Ella, one of six freshmen on the varsity roster. Ella Thomson is now leading the team in scoring at an average of 13.6 points a game and rebounding (11.5).
“You could tell when she went down (in the Crivitz game) that it just took the wind out of our sails, and the girls were down,” Goldschmidt said. “She’s still going to be a big part of our success.”
