Gannon’s Glass a winner broken by pain

Feb. 22--Doctors told Doriyon Glass before her junior year at Boardman (Ohio) High School that her basketball career was likely over, her knees scarred by three surgeries before age 16.

Glass would be the judge of that.

After coming back for a strong senior year and playing two solid seasons at Gannon, the 5-foot 7-inch redshirt junior guard endured increasingly aching knees. Glass faced a painful decision no athlete wants, especially in the middle of another championship-quality season for the Lady Knights.

"I thought about the quality of life for me in the future, and I told my team that I was done. I had to stop playing basketball," said Glass, who has had two anterior cruciate ligament tears and meniscus tears repaired in her left knee. "It came to a point where I can't physically do it anymore."

Glass, a superb defender, was arguably Gannon's best player in the final games of the 31-5 Division II Elite Eight season. She was named to the all-region team after an outstanding performance in the 50-47 win over California in the title game.

She then scored 17 points in an Elite Eight loss to eventual champion Ashland.

But this season, it was visibly apparent that Glass was not the same player.

She started the first eight games, missed five, then saw limited action before shutting it down after playing 3 minutes at California on Jan. 29.

The No. 5 Knights are 23-2, and Glass was hoping to help Gannon to another Atlantic Region title and to a berth in the Elite Eight at Erie Insurance Arena.

"It's not easy to see any athlete unable to play again after being part of something special in their lives," first-year coach Jim Brunelli said. "I admire Doriyon watching her work so hard to stay on the court, but the decision was made with the interest of her future and career."

Glass, whose mother, Dorothy, is the all-time women's scoring leader at Youngstown State, tore the left ACL before her freshman year in high school, then tore her right ACL the following summer.

"I did the therapy and came back in seven months and got to play in five games my freshman year. Because I tore my right ACL a little earlier, I got to play 10 games my sophomore year," Glass said. "I think I probably came back too fast, and at the end of my sophomore year during our state run, my knee started aching again. I found out that I tore my left ACL again. Doctors told me I'd be done with basketball, and I didn't play my junior year."

Glass continued to run track as a sprinter but missed basketball, and after consulting with her mother, played her senior year with no problems while catching the eye of then-Gannon coach Cleve Wright.

"During track season, my left knee started bothering me again, and doctors told me my meniscus was torn, so I had arthroscopic cleanup surgery. That was after I had already talked to coach Wright, so he decided to redshirt me, to see how my knees would be able to handle college basketball, Plus, I also missed the experience of AAU basketball."

Glass, who has consulted with Dr. Nick Stefanovski at UPMC Hamot, and had also been treated by Pittsburgh's internationally-known Dr. Freddie Fu, from UPMC, had two solid seasons under Wright.

"It was always a challenge because my knees would swell up, but the way Todd (Gannon trainer Matlak) put it, 'It's manageable'," Glass said. "I could play through it, and be productive."

Glass had another meniscus cleanup on her left knee in the past summer, but the pain kept increasing.

"This year, I was having a lot more bad days than good days," she said. "Just walking around would hurt. I had to try to sleep with my knees elevated, because they would be throbbing at night, and I was trying to keep the swelling down."

Glass, who will graduate in December with a major in legal studies and minor in pre-law and criminal justice, hopes to see days in court as a lawyer, but does not want knee replacement at age 30.

"I already had arthritis in my knees that might have been dormant before the latest surgery and became active down the line. Like I said, they told me I was done years ago. Now I'm looking at the future, and just doing things normally," Glass said.

The inevitable arrived at 21, with another full year of eligibility remaining.

"I've always been pretty vocal, and it's hard not being able to get out there," Glass said. "When I told my team this was the hardest decision I had to make, to just stop, what made it easier is that I trust them so much, and that I'm still going to get a ring because I know they can do it."

With a 76-14 record, two Atlantic Regional appearances, a string of trips, including to Hawaii in November, and maintaining hopes of a Division II championship in her three active seasons, there have been more smiles that have eased the pain.

"Even though it's hard how this turned out, everything that has happened, I wouldn't change for anything," Glass said. "After those ACL surgeries, coach Wright took a chance on me. To be part of something like this, whether you can play or not, being part of it was awesome, and is one of the best experiences in my life so far."

And, as Brunelli put it, "There's a lot more life after basketball."

BOB JARZOMSKI can be reached at 870-1678 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNjarzomski.

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