Point guard works to regain ground after knee surgery

By Paul Trembacki
Sports Editor

Purdue women's basketball coach Kristy Curry wakes up every day concerned about the status of her sophomore point guard, Erika Valek.

As Valek battles back from a knee injury that cut her freshman season short, Curry knows that not all days will be the same for Valek.

"We're going to go through a few bad days before we have a lot of good and then less bad and really a lot of good," Curry said. "It's going to be a progression, from what I understand."

Valek tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee March 24 in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA tournament. She underwent surgery several days later, but there is still occasional pain.

There's actually more pain in her left knee than in the injured right one because the surgery involved doctors taking ligament tissue from her left knee to help patch together her right.

Although Curry kept Valek out of the Boilers' two exhibition games this preseason and started her in the two regular-season games despite the fact that Valek hadn't been practicing much, the third-year coach thinks Valek can be a steady contributor.

"It's mostly in how she's feeling and how the flow of the game's going," Curry said. "I'd love to get her anywhere from 12 to 14 to 16 minutes in the first half.

"I'd love to get her to 36 or 34 minutes a game or even more than that some days when I think I need her out there."

Valek played 26 minutes and scored eight points in Purdue's season-opening loss to Oklahoma Nov. 11. She wasn't needed much in the Boilers' 89-33 thrashing of Eastern Illinois Sunday, but she still managed to play 20 minutes and score six points.

"Every minute counts and I was blessed to be able to play as many minutes as I did without my knees hurting," Valek said after the game. "Obviously I'm a little rusty but that's just going to come with playing time.

"My knees were fine today. Coach didn't want to wear me out. I've just got to be smart with that."

Curry said she's not going to limit the number of minutes Valek plays per game like many coaches often do with players who are coming back from knee surgery.

Valek's teammates are glad to have her back under any circumstances.

"Erika's just a tremendous asset to our team and we look for her numbers to keep increasing as the season goes on," senior Kelly Komara said. "She just has so much energy and the crowd loves her, so it's always good to have Erika on the floor."

n Valek and the Boilers will be on the floor to host Valparaiso at 7 tonight in Mackey Arena. Purdue is 5-0 all-time against the Crusaders.

The Crusaders (0-1) are coming off a season-opening 42-35 loss at defending national champion Notre Dame.

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Sports editor:
Paul Trembacki

Assistant sports editor:
Doug Healey

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