Lankford out with torn ACL: Fifth Lady Pioneer to suffer knee injury
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Alysa Lankford, who saw time on the varsity squad last season as a freshman, tore her anterior cruciate ligament while playing with a traveling team this week in Florida. She is expected to undergo surgery within the next two weeks, and to be out of action until at least December.
“It’s just another blow we’re going to have to overcome, because she had really stepped up and was doing a great job,” Lady Pioneer coach Ann Eades said Thursday. “She had been getting stronger, and had been playing well against older girls all spring, so it was an encouraging spot for us. But we’ll battle through this, just like we have the other injuries this team has suffered.”
The Lady Pioneers have had more than their fair share of difficulties with ACL tears. In the past two seasons Heather Frazier, Tia Williams, Sallie Slatton and Leanne Pelham have all suffered the same injury.
“It’s something we’ve had to deal with in the past, and we’ll deal with it now the same way we have the other four times,” Eades said. “We’ll look for someone to step up, and hopefully fill the role that Alysa would have filled before she got hurt.”
Eades said Lankford is currently on an exercise regimen to strengthen her injured knee as much as she can before surgery, to prevent her muscles from weakening during the period she is immobile after the operation.
“We are confident she’ll work hard to make it back from this, and nobody hates it any more than she does I can assure you,” Eades added. “We’re looking for positives anywhere we can find them, and the fact that this happened early in her career is somewhat of a silver lining.
“She’ll have the rest of this off-season to recover, and if everything goes as planned she’ll still have 2-1/2 years with us.”