KBZK

Posted: Feb 9, 2010 2:13 AM
Updated: Mar 16, 2010 9:38 AM

Senior guard and one of the unquestioned superstars of Montana basketball Torry Hill will miss the rest of this season with a torn ACL.

The University of Montana commit returned from Anaconda Community Hospital with the bad news around 2 pm Monday. Doctors said that the injury, which is to the ligament in her right knee, will take 3 to 6 months to allow her to play competitively again.

She says she will still attend practice and games for the Copperheads (as she did Monday night after the diagnosis) hopefully seeing them through to their third consecutive Class A State title. Hill was injured in Saturday's game with Hamilton on a drive through the paint. But she says the pain wasn't all that bad after awhile. She even went to the movies that night. But with the truth now sending shockwaves through Anaconda, her teammates shared their reactions.

Guard Lisa Laslovich could not hold back a steady flow of tears as she bravely accepted an on camera interview.

"I found out about it after sixth period. She texted me and said she tore her ACL, and I just started crying," she said.

"It just breaks your heart because nobody works harder than she does and puts in the extra time," said Anaconda post Korey Krumm. "We've played basketball with her since the third grade. It's going to be weird not having her."

While the injury is no doubt a massive blow to the Lady Copperheads' chances to three-peat in the Class A tournament (considering Hill was averaging 27 points per game this year, which is conveniently what she scored in last year's State Championship win) the team is keeping hope alive.

"We've got a great group of kids," boasted Maury Cook, the proud coach of the accomplished girls team. "Obviously, Torry's a phenomenal player and you don't replace her. You look at it like 'where do you go next?' There's no time to mourn. We're here to support Torry and she's going to get better. She's going to have a great college career. She's going to be rooting for us down the stretch."

Cook knows the next time he sees Torry Hill playing on a basketball court, she will more than likely not be in Anaconda blue, but Montana Grizzly maroon. In fact, all five of his original starters throughout the year will move on through graduation this spring. And some of those starters will have to fill the hole that Hill's absence will create. Coach Cook, having thought Torry's injury looked serious ever since she went down Saturday against Hamilton, has thought the situation through.

"I told them that we win games by an average of about 20 points. We're losing about 27 per game with Torry being gone. So somewhere we're going to have to find an extra 10 to 12 points per game to keep winning."

While the theory is sound, is it practical? The Lady Copperheads believe it is.

"We're optimisitic. We can still win. We can do this," said Krumm with the convincing demeanor of a defending state champion. "We need to step up. We've been reliant on Torry because she's a phenomenal player but it's time for the rest of us to step up and make sure that we start scoring some more points and picking up the pace a little bit."

The Copperheads will find out who will step up in Torry Hill's absence this Thursday against Butte High followed by a weekend contest with Missoula Hellgate before they finish the Southwestern A conference schedule with Dillon. A rematch with Butte Central also awaits February 20th.

According to Cook, Laslovich will take Hill's place running the offense from the point guard position. The Lady Copperheads are 8 and 1 in the conference and have already clinched the Southwestern A regular season title.