A week and a half after playing what was expected to be her final game, Missy West announced that she will return to the Blue Devils for a fifth season.
West, a 5-foot-10 shooting guard from Malone, N.Y. redshirted the 1997-98 season after suffering a series of knee injuries that kept her out of the lineup repeatedly during her freshman season in 1996-97 and the beginning of the next season.
The redshirt junior completed coursework for her sociology major this semester and was eligible to graduate in May, but West opted to return for another season and another major at Duke, adding biological anatomy and anthropology to her course load.
" This is something I knew all along that I wanted," West said. "[I wanted] to come back and play for another year."
After being named ACC preseason Rookie of the Year before her freshman season, West's career took a decidedly downward turn, due largely to the recurring knee injuries.
But after many had written her Duke career off, West had a comeback season in her fourth year with the squad. A career-high six three-pointer, 22-point effort against Wake Forest in January signaled her personal resurgence and an outstanding effort in the postseason cemented her spot as one of the Blue Devils' most important players.
West scored 18 points in the ACC tournament semifinal, including a personal 8-0 run during the second half that locked up the Blue Devils' win over Georgia Tech. She then followed that performance up with a 14-point effort against UNC in the championship game, earning second team All-tournament honors.
The fifth-year senior will provide leadership for a young team next year as head coach Gail Goestenkors tries to blend together five top recruits into this year's lineup, which already features five freshmen.
In 31 games this season West averaged 7.2 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 0.9 assists per game and finished second on the team in three-pointer percentage.
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