ASSOCIATED PRESS Punahou alumna Rachel Kane, left, and her Gonzaga teammates watched the end of their WCC title-game loss to Santa Clara.

Knee injury slowing
Gonzaga’s Kane

The Punahou grad feels the
physical pain, but it hurts
more to miss the games

SPOKANE, Wash. » The pain in Rachel Kane's knee is nothing compared to the pain in her heart.

Two years after leading Punahou to an undefeated season, and one season after starting as a freshman at Gonzaga, Kane has been reduced to the role of spectator most of the way through the greatest women's basketball season in Gonzaga history.

Kane's right knee, simply put, is mush. Kane underwent knee surgery as a freshman in high school, then re-injured the knee as a freshman in college. Doctors elected not to operate after Kane was hurt midway through last year, but endless hours of rehab work and therapy have done little to improve the knee.

"Sometimes it's painful, sometimes it's loose, sometimes it's just my confidence -- not being able to trust my knee," Kane said glumly after yesterday's practice.

The Bulldogs, left out of the NCAA tournament despite a 27-3 record, keep their season alive by playing host to Brigham Young (19-10) tomorrow in the first round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament. The Bulldogs drew a record, near-capacity crowd of 5,825 at their last home game, and Kane and her teammates are hoping for more of the same tomorrow.

"That (last) crowd was really great," said Kane, who was the Star-Bulletin's Ms. Basketball in 2003.

Kane hopes she can help the Bulldogs make a run at the WNIT championship, but concedes she's uncertain if she can contribute much. Kane said she will probably undergo surgery when the season ends. She hesitates only because doctors can't promise they can fix her knee completely. And she may be forced to redshirt next season to give her knee enough time to recover.

"There are certain times it feels OK," Kane said in the post-practice quiet of Gonzaga's new McCarthey Athletic Center. "But when I try to get up to 100 percent, it's like it's giving out on me.

"That's why it's kind of frustrating. It's like 'I'm there,' and then I have to start all over again with rehab and all that. It's affecting my confidence."

Asked if she's considered quitting, Kane managed a smile and said, "There have been times. But talking to my family and close friends, they remind me that basketball has kind of been my whole life. I really love the game. It's just another bump in the road. I've got to deal with it."

Kane, the backup point guard behind West Coast Conference Player of the Year Shannon Mathews, sat out most of the nonconference schedule after she re-injured her knee shortly before returning to Gonzaga last August.

This season, Kane averaged only 1.5 points, 1.6 assists and 12.8 minutes. Last year, Kane started ahead of Mathews at the beginning of the season, then played well as a key reserve, averaging 5.9 points, 3.6 assists and 27.8 minutes in 16 games.

"She's got a lot of heart and character," said Mathews, a starter most of her four years at Gonzaga. "She'll come back. She's a tough kid."

Gonzaga head coach Kelly Graves agreed.

"Rachel is a really good player," Graves said. "When Shannon leaves, we obviously will miss Shannon, but we're in good hands with Rachel."

If only Rachel's right knee was as good as her hands. Kane welcomed the opportunity to salvage her season when Mathews went down with a sprained ankle early in the WCC Tournament semifinals, but she was scoreless in that game, as well as the title matchup, when Kane made her only start of the season.

"I did all right in the semifinals," Kane said, "but in the final game, it was frustrating, because I didn't get the job done."

The loss to Santa Clara in the WCC championship game cost Gonzaga its first NCAA tournament berth, ended the nation's longest winning streak at 23 games and knocked the Bulldogs out of the Top 25 after their first-ever national ranking the previous two weeks.

One week later, the NCAA added injury to insult by not granting Gonzaga an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. The Bulldogs were doomed by a weak schedule.

"Obviously, some people are bummed," Kane said. "But there's nothing we can do about it. It's not in our control, so we've got to make a stand for ourselves and prove to everyone that we should have been in there."

That's all Kane wants for herself -- to be able to get back in there. Back on the floor. Back in the starting lineup. Back to having fun.