By Chad Courrier
MANKATO — Graduation already claimed three starters from Minnesota State women’s basketball team, and now an injury has taken a fourth.
Junior point guard Andrea Walsh will miss this season after undergoing surgery on a bulging disc in her lower back.
“Right way, it was hard to grasp,” she said. “I cried at first.”
The Mavericks open the season at 7 p.m. today with a nonconference game against Dana College at Bresnan Arena, but instead of handling the basketball, Walsh will be on the bench, watching her teammates.
Walsh, who started all 34 games during last season’s national championship run, said she first started experiencing a problem with her sciatic nerve last season, and during the national championship game, she was unable to sit down when she wasn’t in the game, instead standing behind the bench.
Then in August, while tubing, she fell hard on her back and temporarily lost feeling in her legs.
“I thought I was paralyzed for a second,” she said. “Everything came back, but my back has been sore ever since.”
This fall, Walsh tried to participate in some individual drills, but coach Pam Gohl said it was quickly obvious that there was a problem.
An MRI led to back surgery on Oct. 22, and Walsh remembers calling teammate Tiffany Moe when she first learned that she wouldn’t be playing this season.
“We both just cried,” Walsh said. “She was on her way to class, and she stopped and said she couldn’t go to class right now. (In preseason), we couldn’t wait to play together again so that was tough.”
Walsh and Moe were co-point guards when they were on the floor together. Walsh, who played 27.4 minutes per game, averaged 5.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists, shooting 48.7 percent from the field and 42.6 percent from 3-point range.
“She’s a great on-ball defender,” Gohl said. “She’s a great kid, on and off the floor. That was a pretty good 1-2 punch when we had her and Tiffany on the floor together. Tif called (Walsh) her wing man.”
Walsh said she has to wear a back brace for six weeks, and she can’t sit or stand for more than an hour at a time. Sometimes, when she’s not wearing the brace, she’ll bend down to pick something up or take a quick step and she’ll feel pain.
“Right now it feels good,” she said. “But I’m just sitting around. I can’t even walk out on the court and shoot. One day I was dribbling a ball, and I could see coach’s eyes on me, telling me to take it easy.”
Gohl said the team was already planning on using a different scheme this season, with more two-post offense and less four-guard. Sophomore Jennie Noreen will play some point guard, alongside Moe.
“Each year, you try to find a way to put your best five out there as much as you can,” Gohl said. “We’ll have a two-post lineup, but we still have good team speed.
“It was going to be different, no matter what. Of course we’ll miss (Walsh), but I’m a positive person, I look forward to the future.”
Walsh said her rehab will soon switch to some twisting, then slowly advancing to bending and then walking. In late January, she hopes she can begin working on some basketball skills but she’s unlikely to return for practices. After the season, she’ll apply to the NCAA for a hardship redshirt to get this season of eligibility back. She’s already sat out one season after transferring from Augustana.
“I’m excited that I might have two years left,” she said. “After watching some of the freshman, we have a lot of potential.”
For now, she’ll take something of a coaching role to the younger players, pointing out ways to improve and encouraging through tough times.
“You can see so much more when you’re sitting on the bench,” she said. “I feel like I’m learning a lot. I want to be out there, but I think I have some experience that I can help the other girls.”
