Bad news--IT strikes again

[Jennifer]

Listening to the broadcase. Erin Higgins tore her ACL in shoot around today, not the one she tore her Sr year. Erin had been a really bright spot in OU's early games.

Caton Hill went down 40 seconds into tonights game holding her knee. No update yet. Hope it's not the ACL....

[Jimi]

Man I hope that is not as bad as it sounds. Best wishes to both of them. We have had WAY too much of this.

[Jennifer]

OUinsiders is reporting the Caton is out as well and will apply for a medical hardship.
http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/frown.gif

Beky Preston will get experience fast...

[Jimi]

Ah BUMMER! I really hate that. Caton is a fine player and I was counting on watching her devlop her game this year.

May this be the end of it for us this year. And especially the end of these injuries for OU.

[VollyParton]

Condolences to the Sooners. Losing either one of those players would hurt any team, but to lose both is a nightmare. May they heal up quick and the team continue to kick butt in the meanwhile.

[schooner2]

Just got back from Lloyd Noble - we won 79-52 over Sam Houston State - but it was a pretty somber setting. Bad enough to lose someone as crucial as Higgins (scored 18 points against Tennessee) before the game. But then we lose Caton Hill just 40 seconds into the game. It is official, both are out for the season due to ACL injury.

So OU loses it's experienced inside senior starter - only returning starter, and an important player off the bench.

Freshman center Beky Preston saw a lot more action tonight. But, she spelled Shuknecht primarily. Both her and Shuknecht were not played at the same time a lot.

All 10 remaining active players saw a lot of minutes. Although the numbers have been depleted by 2, OU can still play a lot of players.

Well, not the way you want to head off to Hawaii to face the likes of North Carolina and UCONN. Hopefully, the can regroup mentally and still enjoy the trip.

Whoever can come up with a way at limiting ACL injuries should automatically receive a Nobel Prize. This is so frustrating! 3 players out with ACL injuries (add Walker). Two recovering from ACL injuries (Wadsworth and Andrews). And incoming recruit Kendra Moore is out her senior high school season with ACL.

Then you add from past years, Stacey Dales, Jennifer Cunningham had 4 ACL tears, and Rosalind Ross played without an ACL. Unbelievable.

[Jennifer]

And just in case either of these young ladies read these boards, there are virtual best wishes and condolences floating all around out there---here from 2 of the higher traffic boards.

The Summit (http://pub160.ezboard.com/fgridscapefrm6.showMessage?topicID=3931.topic)

The Bone-yard (http://connecticut.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=1367&mid=10534830&sid=&tid=10534830&style=1)

[Bevo]

Good grief! This has to be devastating for OU. Are we sure that Caton's is an ACL? I pray not.

Higgins was so impressive against Tennessee. I hate to see her have to experience this. I really feel terrible for these two young ladies and their team.

[schooner2]

Yes for Caton. Play-by-play announcer and Coach Coale made that official during the post-game interview. Since we are just beginning the season, I'm sure both will receive a medical redshirt.

Have to give kudos to both these women. Especially Caton - you could tell she was determined to come back out and sit on the bench and be a cheerleader for this team for the rest of the game despite knowing the extent of her injury. She obviously knows she has to go back out and pick up this team mentally and encourage them for the rest of the season. That had to be very hard to do.

[swok34]

As bad as it sounds, I thought OU stepped it up big tonite and played really, really well. I've noticed that when Caton is on the floor, the newcomers and freshmen play differently.....now, they know they have to be the ones.

Mariaaaaaaaa, Mariaaaaaaaaa......awesome night. That girl's faster than the speed of light. And Laura Andrews is the PF playing behind Caton Hill. She's coming along, though a freshmen and dealing with the physicality of DI ball. Antoinette Wadsworth, Stephanie Simon are other players that play the PF position. This may be the turn-around point for Wadsworth, she's improved since that very first exhibition....
and Beky Preston.....gotta like a post player that gets down and fights for the ball, just like the guards. I think Teresa is in a shooting funk, missing shots she's made thus far.....she'll turn that around.

Dionnah seems to try and do all the compensating herself, she had settled down a bit from the first 2 games and was playing more like herself....tonite, she was in a bit of foul trouble, not real serious. I think it may take her a bit of adjustment that she is now the LEADER.....though, I really think this is a team this year that is still finding it's character, and now they are going to have to speed the process up that much more...
but they are young and they are each in their individual ways, excellent basketball players.

[Jimi]

Originally posted by swok34:
I really think this is a team this year that is still finding it's character, and now they are going to have to speed the process up that much more...
but they are young and they are each in their individual ways, excellent basketball players.

And they have an excellent coaching staff. Kansas State has proven that freshman and sophmores can play this game if they have talent and good coaching. You have both. God's speed OU.

GO BIG RED!!! (of the south)

[Press]

That's horrible news! I hope they have a speedy recovery.

[DblT81]

This is very http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/frown.gif

The frequency of this injury in wcbb make me http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/mad.gif and http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/confused.gif

My best wishes to both players for a complete recovery.

[Bobcat4956]

GEEZ. Does this ugly thing ever stop. Texas has had its share of ACL injuries the past few years. Sorry to hear that. Higgins had looked so good. Two in the same game. WOW. How depressing. Wishing a speedy recovery to both.

[textom]

Incredibly bad luck for OU, Hill and Higgins. I think I can speak for all Texas Tech fans in wishing them a fast and a successful recovery. The only bright light in this sad situation is that Hill will be back next year, when the remaining players have had another year of seasoning. OU will be even stronger next year with Hill still on the team.

________
Honda NSS250 (http://www.cyclechaos.com/wiki/Honda_NSS250)

[Bob_Ballew]

Wow! Caton is my favorite OU player and has been for the last couple of years. This is a devastating loss. Not that the young players can't step up, but she is such a competitor! No one in the Big 12 hustles more than Caton. I certainly wish her and Erin a speedy recovery.

[carolann]

http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/frown.gif Add me to the list of well-wishers.

[Buffsfan22]

Heartbreaking.

Someone on the ESPN top 25 board, after hearing of Hill and Higgins injuries, equated the wch's season to walking through a mine field. While hyperbole, i can sure see his point.

Seems OU haad already had their share of bad acl luck.

Very sorry to see this. Every such injury no doubt makes the entire season less enjoyable for all of us.

Here's wishing both a full recovery, and that the OU team finds a way to keep it together.

[swok34]

I posted a link to the article out of today's Oklahoman......
though the paper has more than what's on the internet...

classic Caton quote's:

"I was going to take another year (of school) anyway," Hill said. "I might as well play basketball."

Here's one that's not in the online article that is soooooooooo Caton:

"At first, I was like, 'Oh no, I tore it. Then I thought, 'This doesn't hurt. Maybe I just sprung it'


[This message has been edited by swok34 (edited 11-27-2002).]

[swok34]

Mechelle Voepel's article:
http://espn.go.com/ncw/columns/voepel/1467782.html

[snizave]

I'm so sorry for Caton and Higgins that this happened, OU is definitely going to have their work cut out for them this season. These injuries are terrible, and seeing two players go down in the same day scares me because as a KSU fan, if this happened to, say, Koehn and Wecker, I don't know how the team would cope. Good luck OU, my heart goes out to your players.

[This message has been edited by snizave (edited 11-27-2002).]

[BigUtFan]

UNBELIEVABLE.....My regards to two fine players at OU. Wishing you both to a speedy recovery. Ms. Hill....I'm glad you are returning and not giving up. Kudos to you!!!

[elfdenmom]

I hate it! I hate it! It is just awful that this injury occurs so often. My heart goes out to Caton and Erin. I wish them a speedy and complete recovery. My condolences to you OU fans for suffering this double whammy. The only bright spot is how much better this will make the others on the team with increased playing time and responsibilities.