STATE EXTRA: SACCO: K. Scott smiling after 2-month break

STAUNTON

Kendra Scott is still smiling.

Smiling when she goes through layup drills. Smiling as she stood and watched the rest of the Lee Ladies shake the rust out of their limbs. Smiling here. Smiling there. Smiling, dare we say, every where.

Don’t blame Scott for all the happy-go-lucky looks.

Because, for Scott, it’s been a long two months.

Think about it for a second. While R.E. Lee’s freshman phenom Angela Mickens sat on the bench with two fouls last Friday in the Region III, Division 3 semifinals against Rustburg, she was able to count down the time until she got back on the court by using the scoreboard.

Scott needed a calendar after a knee injury in the second game of the season put the 6-foot-1 junior on the shelf.

But, against Rustburg, Scott returned.

And when the crowd stood up and cheered to welcome her back with 1:32 left in the first period last week, it was tough for her not to jump out of her skin and celebrate with her fans and friends.

“It was exciting,” said the giggle-happy post player. “It was like, ‘I’m back.’ I was jumping for joy inside.”

Her return, giving the Lee Ladies another post presence to go along to Daquaa Scott, came at just the right time. Her chance to prove to everybody she was back and ready, despite a bulky brace strapped to her knee, came minutes later in that Rustburg game. That’s when Scott let her presence be known by swatting a Red Devil shot attempt in the paint.

Of course, the crowd cheered even louder at that.

“It brought back the old times,” Scott said Wednesday during practice, “when I was swatting shots all the time.”

In her first game back, Scott didn’t put any points in the book. She did, however, block two shots and, yet, she still wasn’t too happy with her play.

“She’s a little upset she didn’t play as well as she thought,” coach Jeremy Hartman said. “I told her, ‘You know, Kendra. You’ve been out for two, three months. It’s OK.’ Just to get her back in game action ...”

Well, that’s huge.

“Yeah, but I expect more out of myself,” she said. “But [Hartman] told me to keep my head up.”

But those two months were brutal. “Upsetting,” she said, watching the Lee Ladies run off win after win and meet goal after goal.

Watching them win the Southern Valley regular-season title from the bench?

“Hard.”

Watching them win the district tournament?

“Tough.”

Heck, watching the 2008-09 season unfold from the bench was about as much fun dipping a paper cut in rubbing alcohol.

“I had to come to practice and watch them practice every day,” she said. “And then, for games, they were dressing up and I wasn’t dressing up. But, hey, it’s my team and I’m glad they were doing good.”

Finally, as the Region III clock ticked away on the Lee Ladies, Scott got word two days before the Rustburg game she was cleared to play. Her reaction? Well, of course she smiled.

“Then I jumped off the little table thing we’re supposed to sit on,” she said.

Thankfully for Hartman, her knee held up when she hit the ground.

Thankfully, for the Lee Ladies, she’s back and still smiling.

And swatting.