Wild West

ccording to her coach of the past four-and-a- half years, Missy West is a "winner." She was a winner when she was recruited out of Malone, N.Y., an upstate hamlet near the Canadian border. And she is a winner now.

Through it all, though, there have been times when almost no one-perhaps not even coach Gail Goestenkors-could bear the pain and frustration of watching West keep trying to win. No one, of course, save West herself. Five years, three knee surgeries and one premature senior recognition night behind her, West is, for the second year in a row, a senior captain on the women's basketball team.

Just before the beginning of last season, the coaches sat down with West, who had taken a medical redshirt her sophomore year after her first knee surgery. During the redshirt year, West had two more knee surgeries-one to remove a lesion under her kneecap and some torn cartilage, and the second on her previously "good" knee.

"At the time, it was the kind of injury that was very difficult to come back from," West said. "I was told my career would be questionable."

For a winner who had never been injured and had never adapted to the feel of a bench underneath her, this was frustrating news.

So was the news that the coaches delivered West when they sat down with her just before the beginning of last season.

"She was on schedule to graduate. We told her she needed to go ahead and graduate," Goestenkors said.

To West, the message came as a shock, and as a challenge.

By all accounts, West was expected to make a similar mark in basketball at Duke. The preseason ACC rookie of the year, the Blue Devils' first, West enjoyed a terrific freshman year, earning five starts before initially injuring her knee in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Taking the medical redshirt her sophomore year, West looked more like an assistant coach than an injured player on the sidelines. She always occupied the first seat on the bench next to the scorer's table and carried a trusty clipboard with her at all times.

Then-freshman Georgia Schweitzer remembers the impact West had on her during that first season.

"The first year she was a great vocal leader," the reigning ACC player of the year said. "She never complained about being hurt. She was really good to me personally off the court, introducing me to the social scene here at Duke."

West's plan to come back strong was hampered by the two additional surgeries after that season.

"Every time we felt like she was on the verge of a breakthrough, she would have another setback," Goestenkors said. "It was really hard for her and extremely hard for everyone else to watch."

West did not see much playing time during her sophomore season. In fact, she played in only 11 games. But West occupied that same first chair on the bench, usually with her knee wrapped in a plugged-in heating pad. The clipboard was absent, but West's leadership was not.

"I remember Missy during the Tennessee game that year, squatting beside Coach G on the bench the whole time," junior guard Krista Gingrich said.

In addition, behind the scenes West underwent about two-and-a-half hours of rehabilitation therapy each day. Beyond that, she worked out all the time, fearful of being out of shape and missing a chance because of it.

"Every time I went to the locker room she was always riding the bike," Schweitzer recalled. "She never complained that year either. I always felt she'd be ready to help us when we needed her. I knew she was such a fighter, just waiting for her opportunity."

Goestenkors noted that while the injuries may have faded, West's fight has not.

"After every practice she'd work out extra. When we would go on road trips, she would work out in the hotel. She still does this! She always stayed positive and stayed in shape. It's hard to stay in shape when you aren't playing."

It turned out the Blue Devils needed West during her "first senior year," especially after Peppi Browne tore her ACL on Jan. 27 versus North Carolina. Goestenkors moved Rochelle Parent to Browne's frontcourt position and often used West to fill Parent's space in the backcourt.

West was Duke's high scorer in five games last season. Playing to earn her fifth year, though, West finished the season in a strong fashion. In the ACC tournament, she scored 42 points in three games en route to helping the Blue Devils capture their first conference tournament. Named to the all-tournament second team, West also scored in double figures in each of Duke's next three games, all NCAA tournament contests.

Even better than the way West was playing, though, was the way she was feeling.

"When I started playing better, I fought through the pain," West said. "Now the muscle is all back and I hardly have any pain at all."

This season, West is averaging just over 14 minutes and five points per game. She has also moved into Duke's career top 10 for three- pointers made and three pointers attempted.

"She's a competitor. In the classroom and on the court, she's always going to work extremely hard," Goestenkors said. "You want her on your side."

Always a winner, West is finally winning.

"I'm thankful to be back and given this fifth year," she said.