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By: Kate Harman
Alana Cardona wasn’t sure what was worse on Friday night.
Was it the injury itself – hitting the gymnasium floor so hard with her head that it stopped everyone present at Central Bucks South in their tracks?
Or was it the not knowing? The not knowing if she was going to be okay or not.
The look on the Souderton senior’s face as she walked towards the sideline having only been on the basketball court for just 20-seconds said it all.
It didn’t matter what was worse – they were both pretty frustrating.
Cardona was battling for a loose ball in one of the team’s most consequential regular season contests – a 41-30 win over C.B. South – when a collision sent her to the ground, hard.
“You want to keep playing,” Cardona said. “I was thinking that I just had to get up. I was terrified that I wouldn’t be able to play anymore.”
She got up, leapt up, really, but the playing would have to wait, as the forward spent the remainder of the quarter – all 7 minutes and 40 seconds of it – undergoing concussion protocol. She returned just in time for the second frame and as the buzzer sounded was subbed back into the game.
Her impact was felt immediately.
“Motivated,” Cardona, who scored 12 points, recorded three blocks, and grabbed seven rebounds, said. “I was motivated because I missed that whole first quarter. When I came back we were down by a couple, so I’m thinking ‘come on guys let’s go’. I feel like I had more pep in my step – don’t know how – but that’s what it felt like.”
There sure was a lot of pep in her step, as Cardona contributed on four consecutive plays for Souderton (12-2 overall, 5-1 conference) just two minutes into her return. She scored a bucket, blocked a shot, assisted on a nice Kate Connolly basket, and then drove for two points on the squad’s next possession.
“What a difference Alana makes,” Souderton coach, Lynn Carroll said. “Not having her in the first quarter it was tough to get into a flow. A lot of sets are just not as easy to run without both Kate [Connolly] and Alana in. Getting her back for the second quarter was a huge relief.”
Who else made a difference? Tori Dowd and Megan Walbrandt, who spent the game glued to the Titans’ (13-2, 5-2) top scoring threats.
“We are playing with so much intelligence on defense, plus we have great defenders,” Carroll said. “Tori, tonight, she always does a great job but Alexa Brodie is one of the toughest – she really is – toughest kids to defend. What she can do is a challenge for anybody to defend for 32 minutes. Tori could not have done a better job.”
At first the injury to Cardona seemed pretty bad.
The not knowing was too.
As for the win?
Afterwards, Cardona was all smiles. That part, wasn't so bad at all.
@Ka_Harman
Souderton 5 13 10 13 – 41
Central Bucks South 7 8 4 11 – 30
S: Kate Connolly 20, Alana Cardona 12, Megan Walbrandt 5, Megan Bealer 4
CBS: Haley Meinel 15, Alexa Brodie 9, Maddie McShane 4, Mackenzie Ehresman 2