Stanford Seniors Share Success, Injury

Stanford will honor five seniors as part of its annual Senior Day ceremony following Saturday's game against Oregon State, a game that will likely clinch the Cardinal's 10th straight Pac-10 title.

The five players – Rosalyn Gold-Onwude, Jayne Appel, JJ Hones, Michelle Harrison and Melanie Murphy – have had their Cardinal careers defined by the program's return to the top of the women's basketball ladder and Stanford's return to the Final Four.

And there is more common definition. Four of them have lost at least one season on The Farm with an ACL injury. The only one spared has been Appel, who has had her own trouble with cranky knees.

Appel, right, feels good now. She says so, and so does her performance on the floor. The All-American is averaging 21 points a game in the last five games. She is within 23 rebounds of becoming the Pac-10's all-time leading rebounder, seeking to break Lisa Leslie's career mark.

Appel has had surgery to repair the torn meniscus in her left knee in each of the past two off-seasons.

This year, the second surgery seemed to be taking a toll on her mobility, her ability to elevate and her conditioning. She's answered questions all season about whether she's 100 percent, whether the knee is affecting her game as she ceded the team's scoring lead to sophomore Nneka Ogwumike and junior Kayla Pedersen.

But now, with five straight double-doubles, Appel is, even by her own estimation, back on track.

''I obviously would have liked to have been full-strength with my knee at the beginning of the season, but with practice and the right treatments it's been getting better and stronger."
- Jayne Appel "I was slowly playing back into my knee and coming back into form," Appel said. "It's getting toward the end and I'm putting that urgency into playing. I obviously would have liked to have been full-strength with my knee at the beginning of the season, but with practice and the right treatments it's been getting better and stronger."

While Appel is finding her postseason stride, Hones is still dealing with the fallout of her last ACL injury, which occurred last season.

Hones – who along with Harrison and Murphy has one season of eligibility remaining -- is in and out of the Cardinal lineup now and likely will be for the rest of the season.

She does not practice during the week and she is in a constant state of maintenance, trying to control the swelling in her twice-injured left knee. She will likely need more surgery in the offseason.

Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said it is "not an ideal situation" for Hones. But the coach and Hones are on the same page and VanDerveer will continue to hand out Hones' minutes in judicious fashion.

"If we get up and we are in a situation, I don't play (Hones)," VanDerveer said. "I don't want her in a situation where she can injure her knee."

Hones said she doesn't want to dwell on what she can't do.

"It's like sitting in a rocking chair, it doesn't take you anywhere," Hones said.

Gold-Onwude is having the most consistent season of her Stanford career, turning in opportune offensive performances and playing stellar perimeter defense.

"Ros should be the defensive player of the year in the Pac-10," VanDerveer said.
Harrison and Murphy each lost a season with their knee injuries and never gained a footing in the regular rotation.

Murphy, like Hones, has been limited in her playing time at guard this season as the swelling in her knee persists. Murphy's flashes of stellar play, her great passing, her ability to score off the dribble, have been quashed again.

"These are kids that came in together," VanDerveer said of her choice to honor all five seniors, regardless of eligibility status. "JJ and Mel are probably going to have to have surgery after the season. We are going to wait and make the decision at the end of the season. But I wouldn't want them to miss it. If they don't' come back, they will have had senior day with their classmates. It doesn't mean they can't come back."