One thousand points: a milestone every basketball player wants to hit in their high school career. Senior Alexa Kellner was 12 points away from this landmark before taking a fall in the beginning of our game against Ridgefield, forcing her to sit through the rest of the game. Through the tears, we were thinking about what the outcome of this fall was going to be. She may be the best player on our team, but she is also our best friend, and the future of her career was on the line. With that thought in everyone’s head, we experienced one of the most emotional wins we’ve ever had in the program. The locker room was filled with tears when Alexa exclaimed how proud she was of everyone after the emotional and hard fought second half of the game.

When I think mental toughness, Alexa is one of the first people that come to mind. She doesn’t show her emotions; she always keeps her composure. That made it even more difficult for me and the rest of my teammates to see her walk into the gym sobbing after finding out she had torn her ACL, a season-ending injury. It was hard for us to keep our emotions at bay; we wanted to cry, but we had to stay strong for her. As she was on the sideline with me, I tried to stay optimistic for her sake and talked about her bright future, but I couldn’t help but cry when I was alone.

This is something we see occur in the game of basketball all the time, but it’s different when its someone you care about. I’ve never met anyone like Alexa that is so passionate and loves the game of basketball so much. She’s already such a gifted player, with accomplishments like being first team all FCIAC for three years straight, a 2018 McDonald’s All American nominee and being All State last year. But despite her successes, Alexa was always the first and last person in the gym working on her game, and also making other people better. There was always room for improvement, and her work ethic was contagious.

This injury isn’t stopping Alexa’s love for basketball, though. She has become like another coach on the sideline, still helping us out and being there for us. Our program will forever be grateful to have had such an amazing person and player be a part of it. Alexa’s surgery will be on February 15, and we hope she heals quickly. UMass will be lucky to have such a gifted and compassionate individual join them next year.

Ending this with a message to you Alexa from the team: We love you, and we’ll continue to go out there and play for you. We’re excited to see you succeed, as you go to the next level in college.