Girls Basketball LHS forward injures knee

If the Lawrence High girls basketball team is going to defend its Class 6A state championship this season, it’s going to have to do it without senior forward Tania Jackson.

Jackson, one of the heroes of last year’s state title game, and one of the emerging talents in the state, tore the anterior cruciate ligament and damaged the medial collateral ligament in her right knee on Sunday during an open gym workout. She will miss the 2008-09 season.

“From what I heard, it was nothing dirty, there was nobody around her,” LHS coach Kristin Mallory said. “She just went up and came down.”

Mallory, who was not present at the time of the injury, said Jackson went to the emergency room immediately. Mallory compared the diagnosis to that of Kansas University freshman Angel Goodrich, who tore her ACL two weeks ago and will miss the college season. Ironically, Jackson and Goodrich will be teammates next season at KU, as Jackson already has orally committed to join the Jayhawks.

Mallory, who has a friendly relationship with KU coach Bonnie Henrickson, said she believed the Jayhawks were 100 percent committed to Jackson.

“That’s the bright side for her,” Mallory said. “She’s not going to spend her senior season on the sidelines looking for a place to play.”

The loss of Jackson changes the look of the LHS team dramatically. Not only will the Lions be without their top post player, they’ll also be without one of their best outside shooters. In addition, junior Shelby Miller, who likely would have replaced Jackson in the starting lineup, also is out with a torn ACL. Miller injured her knee this summer but is expected back at some point during the season.

“We could be a completely different team during the first semester than we are during the second semester,” Mallory said. “We’re going to have to re-evaluate our lineup and find out how we can get our best players on the floor, even if that’s a lineup full of guards. I’m in the process of doing that right now. Today was the first day this really sunk in.”

Mallory said Tuesday that her girls were aware of Jackson’s injury, and that she expects each of them to step up to help replace Jackson.

“Going into this year, we felt like we weren’t going to have to change a lot,” Mallory said. “This changes that. But we expect the kids to step up. We will still be a good team, we’ll just be a different team.”