AMES – After recovering from a recent injury, freshman guard Reagan Wilson made her return to the court and used her time on the bench as an opportunity to learn and acquire different skills from her teammates.
A few weeks prior, the freshman was seen warming up with the Cyclones on the court before their game against St. Thomas with a boot on her foot. Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly confirmed the injury was due to a stress fracture, but that she has continuously done everything she can to return.
“She’s done all the things to get her back to being healthy, and that’s hard to do,” Fennelly said. “It’s boring, it sucks, you’re kinda by yourself. But she worked really hard and her training staff worked really hard. It’s good to have her back.”
In the past weeks, with her time on the bench, Wilson was able to use her position to learn from other players on the team. Specifically, senior guard Emily Ryan, who Wilson addressed as a great mentor to follow behind.
“I’m just learning after [Ryan], taking after that point guard position, just following her ways really,” Wilson said. “Just going out there to do what coach needs me to do at any given night to help us win.”
Fennelly explained that Wilson had a positive attitude throughout recovery, giving her the assignment to watch her teammates as the rehabilitation process can be one of the longest and hardest times for an athlete. Still, Wilson did it all with a bright spirit.
“One of the things I told her while she was out was to watch Emily Ryan,” Fennelly said. “I tried to tell her she has a great mentor and someone to learn from. [Wilson’s] personality is very upbeat and very outgoing–even when she was obviously disappointed when she couldn’t play, she never showed it. She was very positive in practice, talks a lot and has a high motor. So to her credit, she did not pout about it, didn’t want people around her to feel sorry for her.”
Coming back on the court after recovering, Wilson’s excitement was evident as she jumped right back into action, playing a team-high 21 minutes and securing eight points during the USC Upstate game Tuesday.
“It was good, I was happy to be back, be with my teammates, especially be back at Hilton with our fans and our crowd,” Wilson said. “It was super fun.”
The 57-point win came from many players’ success, but Wilson’s offensive skills gave the team a six-point jump due to her two successful 3-pointers, overall completing three out of her attempted five field goal shots.
“[Wilson] did great, she adds a lot of energy to our team,” Fennelly said. “It gives us a really good-quality backup point guard. She has to be careful, she had the makings of a stress fracture in her foot so we can’t get too excited and run her around too much, but we kinda got to balance her advancing minutes by pulling back Emily Ryan a little bit.”
Along with being a defensive leader, Wilson utilized many constructive plays that helped the team gain continuous possession and granted herself one turnover.
“She’s been really good, she’s been a great teammate, kids like playing with her, she’s very vocal,” Fennelly said. “She does all the things that you want your point guard to do. She’s done all the things she had to do to get back to playing.”
Despite recovering from her second injury this season–the first being a fractured nose–Wilson is excited for the upcoming season, with all her focus on the Central Michigan game Sunday.
“I’m excited, really just take it day by day, [Central] Michigan is our next focus,” Wilson said. “So just preparing for each game differently.”
