Two weeks later, handling a basketball became a possibility again for Ameryst Alston, which served as a relief to her and the Ohio State women’s team Sunday during a second-round game of the NCAA Tournament at St. John Arena.
An injured Alston came off the bench to play 24 minutes and score six points in an 88-81 grind-it-out victory over West Virginia.
The win moved the Buckeyes (26-7) to the Sweet 16 for a meeting against Tennessee (21-13) in the Sioux Falls, South Dakota, regional at 9:30 p.m. Friday.
The senior guard suffered a sprained right wrist late in a Big Ten tournament quarterfinal March 4. Her mind said to play the next night and she tried for 10 minutes.
The wrist disagreed as vehemently as a Doberman would with a clumsy cat burglar. After an ugly loss to Michigan State, Alston’s season and career looked to be in jeopardy.
“That Michigan State game, I don’t know, I guess I was just so eager to get out there,” she said. “It’s very frustrating to watch your team and want to be able to contribute. But that game, I really just couldn’t. It was hurting the team for me to be out there. They recognized that I couldn’t shoot.”
She spent two weeks rehabilitating but couldn’t play Friday in an 88-69 win over Buffalo in the opening-round NCAA game. She tried again Sunday and the wrist didn’t bark so much.
When Alston hit a jump shot in the second quarter, teammate Cait Craft shared the adrenaline rush.
“It just took her that one shot for her to get going and kind of realize that she was there,” Craft said. “Ameryst had six points, which to me seemed like a lot more at the time.
“She hit two big free throws back-to-back. She had a couple of good takes (to the basket) and defensively she was really big for us in the zone that we played. The six points doesn’t really speak to what she meant to our team that day.”
The truth is that Alston probably won’t be 100 percent until weeks after the season ends.
“My wrist feels a lot better,” she said.
But she plans to play against the Lady Vols and her teammates welcome her.
“Am’s presence is always needed,” sophomore guard Kelsey Mitchell said. “It never goes unnoticed. People keep talking about her wrist and how it’s good, bad or indifferent. To be able to do what you do as a player (hurt) and impact a game is a great thing. It is very much needed on this team and appreciated.”
