Gipson strong without ACL

By Gabe Taylor

Even without an ACL, women's basketball center Lena Gipson has fought her way back and is establishing herself as a threat on the basketball court.

The brace on Gipson's left knee allows her to continue to play basketball even after the removal of her ACL during the preseason of her senior year in high school.

Gipson attended San Joaquin Memorial High School in Fresno, Calif., where she broke the school record for individual rebounding. The three-time All-North Yosemite League Honoree also became the 10th athlete in school history to score more than 1,000 points in a season.

She was named NYL Most Valuable Player in the 2004-2005 season after leading Memorial to the Central Division IV Finals.

While at Memorial, Gipson lettered three seasons in volleyball and one year in track in addition to playing basketball.

Rehabilitating her knee in order to be able to play at the collegiate level was no easy matter for Gipson.

She was forced to change her style of play because of a loss of speed without an ACL.

"I'm still slow," Gipson said with a laugh.

She credits her ability to fight back from the surgery to the words of her father, a former basketball player.

"He likes to talk about how he's old, but he can still play with people because he (plays) smarter now," Gipson said.

"I feel myself really paying attention to the profile of who I'm playing to make up for my being slower," she said.

Overall, Gipson feels as though she has become a smarter player because of the injury and subsequent rehabilitation.

All of this, Gipson sums up in one, simple saying: "Less athleticism, more brain."

Teammate Sarah Majors admires Gipson's strong mentality after coming back from a major surgery. Majors said that the team feeds off of Gipson's example when battling through smaller injuries.

"(Gipson's injury) puts everything in perspective," Majors said.

Before transferring to Santa Clara during this past offseason, Gipson attended Fresno City College. At FCC, she helped lead the Rams to a 35-3 record, averaging a team-high 18 points per game alongside 11 rebounds.

With the FCC Rams, she earned All-American Honors in the 2007-2008 season and was named league Most Valuable Player and NorCal State MVP as well.

The 6-foot center helped lead the Rams to the semifinals of the state tournament last season.

In Gipson's first season at Santa Clara, she has already proven to be a dominating force on the court.

"She's our go-to player on the offensive end," Santa Clara women's basketball head coach Jennifer Mountain said.

Most of Gipson's points come from inside the paint, helping the team have more options on the offensive end.

"She brings a huge presence inside, which is something we've been lacking," Majors said.

Gipson has continuously dominatined the statistics column through 19 games. She averages a team-high 13.1 points per game and an impressive 10.2 rebounds per game.

Gipson is the only West Coast Conference women's player to average a double-double of points and rebounds.

In the NCAA Division I, there are only 19 other players averaging a double-double in points and rebounds.

To add to her statistics, Gipson has held the team-high in all but one game this season. By herself, she has accounted for an average of 25.7 percent of Santa Clara's point total and 24.4 percent of the Broncos' total rebounds in each game thus far.

The sophomore noted that the biggest difference following the transition to Santa Clara is the style of coaching.

Before coming to play for the Broncos, Gipson was used to the style of FCC head coach Brian Tessler, who isn't afraid to speak his mind.

"He let you know what he was feeling when he was feeling it," she said. "If you weren't doing what he said, you sat on the bench."

Because of this experience, Gipson credits Mountain's ability to handle tough situations.

"Coach Mountain approaches things with more control," Gipson said.

However, the obvious difference between the win and loss columns is another aspect of the game that stands out.

Despite Gipson's ability to rack up points, Santa Clara's 2-17 record does not come close to matching.

"It's hard for any athlete to have a losing season," Gipson said.

She has struggled to understand how to strengthen her role on the team.

"It's difficult, because I feel like I should be making changes, and it's not really coming together," Gipson said.

Despite this, Mountain admires Gipson's ability to lead the team offensively, but she would like to see her add even more aggressiveness to her game.

"We've been talking to her everyday about getting that killer instinct," Mountain said.

Although Gipson said the change in the level of competition between FCC and Santa Clara has not been overwhelming, she stated that the teams she plays against now are more aggressive.

With two years left in her college career, Gipson has time to settle down into a clear role on the team.

Within that role, Mountain would love to see Gipson become more vocal and stand out as the team leader.

"She's one of those people that leads more by example than by being vocal," the first-year head coach said.

Mountain hopes that Gipson continues to improve on her presence down low.

"She's got to continue to be an absolute threat from the block."

Gipson's main focus at this point in time is finding more confidence in putting the ball on the floor, using her off hand and helping the team find a rhythm that will bring a winning mentality back to Santa Clara, she said.

She'll put that to use as the Broncos next game is Saturday at San Francisco at 2 p.m.

Contact Gabe Taylor at gtaylor@scu.edu.