Makenna Nease is a Junior on our 2018/2019 Lady Patriots basketball team. Makenna started playing basketball twelve years ago when she was 4. At the time, she started playing just to simply give her something to do. However, it was not just a one year thing. Makenna has played ball ever since, except for last year.

On November 14, 2017, the first home game of her sophomore season, Makenna fell sideways and hurt her leg. However, this did not stop her. After telling everybody she was ok, Makenna got back out on the court and continued fighting for the team. She was not out there long though. As she was coming back down the court, she fell backwards and could not get up.

After getting x-rays, she found out she tore her ACL in her left leg. Doctors told her she needed to have reconstructive surgery meaning she would be out the rest of the season. This didn’t stop Makenna though. Every game she could she was there on the bench supporting her team.

After eight months of recovery, Makenna finally got cleared. She then returned back to the team to put in work and in my opinion is the leader of our team. Whenever one of us makes a mistake, she always encourages us to keep going. No matter if we win or lose, she is always telling us to keep our heads up. If we mess up, she corrects us and gets us right back on track.

After interviewing Murphy he said, “Makenna may not lead us in scoring but she is a smart, hard nosed player that I feel comfortable with having her on the floor.”

-Cassie Dykes