Wednesday, September 16, 1998

Wahine players
on the mend

But Spencer-Vasconcellos, Page
and Forsberg should be ready for
the start of the basketball season

By Al Chase
Star-Bulletin

Three University of Hawaii Wahine basketball players are trying to rebound after undergoing surgery recently.

Kylie Page, Maj Forsberg and Ki'i Spencer-Vasconcellos should be ready for the start of the season, although recovery time for each will vary.

Page, a 6-foot power forward who finished third in the nation in 3-point field-goal percentage (48 of 99 for .485 in 1997-98), had been bothered by an impingement in her right shoulder that did not respond to other forms of treatment.

She underwent an acromioplasty -- a shaving of the acromion, the outer, upper point of the shoulder blade or scapula.

Page, who had surgery Sept. 5, should be ready when practice starts Oct. 17.

With Forsberg and Spencer-Vasconcellos on the mend, Wahine head coach Vince Goo may be thin at the point guard position behind starting senior BJ Itoman when practice begins.

However, as Wahine basketball trainer Tara Humphreys said, "It's better to get these things taken care of now than during the season."

Forsberg's left shoulder bothered her last season, then she fell on it while playing during the summer.

"I'd be in certain situations during a game, and when my arm got hit it would kind of pop out," the 5-4 senior guard said.

Arthroscopic surgery was performed to reattach fibro-cartilaginous tissue to the rim around the shoulder's ball and socket joint.

"My arm is in a sling and I have to rest it for four to five weeks," Forsberg said. "I'm hoping to be ready when practice starts. Right now I can't move it too much."

Last spring, Spencer-Vasconcellos, a redshirt freshman, banged her right leg on a table chasing a ball.

"I kept playing and it got worse. A big lump developed on my leg," she said.

Spencer-Vasconcellos had suffered a stress fracture, and a six-inch rod was inserted in the tibia (the larger and thicker of the two bones in the lower leg).

"This is a preventive measure, to keep it from breaking," Humphreys said. "There's a lot of wear and tear running and jumping."

Then, when Spencer-Vasconcellos recovered and began playing again, a lump appeared on her left leg. The aforementioned procedure was performed on that leg in August, but only after she waited two weeks to recover from chicken pox.

"The doctor told me to walk on the leg as soon as I could," Spencer-Vasconcellos said.

However, the 5-5 freshman guard still uses a crutch at times because her left leg tires easily. She is able to do stretching exercises, but hasn't started strengthening exercises.

"I want to be ready when the season starts. I'm drooling about the chance to play," Spencer-Vasconcellos said.

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