Playing Through The Pain

Robinson Puts Lady Eagles Squad On Injured Back

Rose Robinson, left, of Huntsville was diagnosed early in the season with a fractured vertebra and bulging disc, but has played through the pain.
Rose Robinson, left, of Huntsville was diagnosed early in the season with a fractured vertebra and bulging disc, but has played through the pain.

— The pain in Rose Robinson’s back is manageable as long as she keeps battling in the paint and moving during a basketball game.

However, once the Huntsville post player takes a seat during a timeout, the sting that has been there since volleyball season returns.

“I just focus on playing the game,” Robinson said. “My adrenaline is going, so I don’t really think about it much.”

At one time, Huntsville girls basketball coach Charles Berry worried that he’d be without his star senior after Robinson was diagnosed early in the season with a fractured vertebra and bulging disc.

Robinson missed 4-5 games while trying to figure out how to simply make it through a game. But that’s no longer an issue as she has shown that she’s durable and can play through pain while giving the 5A-West Conference champion Lady Eagles (22-4) a physical inside presence.

“She just sucked it up. When we got to the conference play, she just forced herself to play and probably shouldn’t play,” Berry said. “Down the stretch she has gotten much better.”

Berry said Robinson is averaging around 14 points per game this season, but the 6-foot-2 post player has been even more productive while averaging 23 points over the past three games.

With Robinson again battling in the paint, the top-seeded Lady Eagles enter this week’s Class 5A State Tournament in Pine Bluff riding an 11-game winning streak. They’re playing more physical, and their confidence is high heading into an opening round game against Sylvan Hills at 7 p.m. today.

“I cannot picture not winning a state championship,” Robinson said. “Honestly.”

Robinson said she tries to manage her back injury by visiting a chiropractor twice a week, along with doing stretches before games and then applying ice to her back afterward.

She admitted she initially feared that the injury would force her to miss her senior season, which would then limit her options after high school. She’s also a standout outside hitter in volleyball.

“There was an emotional wall there that I had to overcome, and I thought about college like ‘What am I going to do for college?’” Robinson said. “It’s nothing that anyone should have to deal with.”

Robinson said she has offers from Lyon College and Harding University to play college basketball and offers from Henderson State and Arkansas-Monticello for college volleyball. She said she’ll likely have to pick between which of the two sports to play at the next level.

However, first Robinson wants to lead Huntsville to a state championship like her older brother and sister did before her. It’s become a family tradition and a reason for the senior to endure the pain.

She has put the Lady Eagles on her injured back.

“She is able to get down there on the low post and muscle up with them,” Berry said. “Before she couldn’t because she was just hurt.”

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