As the clock ticked down to the end of the game Wednesday, Kelsey Hill slowly dribbled the ball up the court and handed it to the referee. The slow dribble signaled Kansas State's seventh win this season, and protected a perfect 6-0 record inside Bramlage Coliseum.
For the Wildcats' senior guard, the win was great, but it was also just as meaningful for her to be back on the court helping in that win. It took the support of her teammates and coaches throughout the course of a long 2009-10 season, but now she was back.
"It's been so much fun," Hill said after the 76-49 victory over North Dakota.
But a little more than a year ago, she had the court and the game of basketball temporarily taken from her.
It was early last October during the first week of practice for the Wildcats. Hill was anxious for the year to start. As an upperclassman with two-years of experience playing for 15th-year head coach Deb Patterson, her junior year looked promising.
"I had finally gotten it," Hill said. "Physically and mentally, I was kind of in my role and ready to go."
But then, after falling down awkwardly on her left knee during a non-contact 3-on-2 drill, her ambitions of a successful junior season suddenly ended.
Immediately, she knew she had blown her anterior cruciate ligament — or ACL — and after confirming it, her junior season was over before it even began.
"It was hard," Hill said. "I had high expectations for myself and as a team and I kind of felt like I couldn't do it."
But after going through two surgeries and a myriad of rehab treatments the 5-foot-5 guard from Lenexa, learned to take on that different role for the Wildcats. While it my not have been the role she was seeking before the season began, she found joy in supporting her teammates from the sideline.
"I realized last year, my role was to really cheer and be the biggest cheerleader I could be," Hill said. "I helped some of the underclassman. We had a lot of freshman guards last year, so I helped them and tried to be there in anyway I could.
"It taught me a lot as a person and as a player. I think it has made me a better teammate."
Now though, as the Wildcats are off to their best start since the 2008-09 season when they reached the second round of the NCAA tournament, Hill has made her way back on the court at a quick pace.
Hill has been a leader coming off the bench this season. She's appeared in all eight games. She tied her season high with six points against North Dakota on Wednesday night.
"It is so much fun," Hill said. "I couldn't really help last year. I could cheer and I could yell, but this year, I feel like I can come in and do some things and lead in different ways, being an upperclassmen."
Her presence and leadership seems to be working, too, as the Wildcats have gone undefeated at home this year and are receiving votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll with conference play beginning in less than a month.
"It's just been a great opportunity," Hill said. "I think if we just keep going game-by-game going into conference play."
The Wildcats will close out a two-game homestand on Sunday when they host UC Davis at 2 p.m. at Bramlage Coliseum.
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