By Jim O'Hara
 
ROME, Ga. – Lindsey Crawford could have very easily ended her basketball career and no one would have questioned her.

Instead, thanks to her strong faith and a lot of prayer, the Shorter senior has found peace with her decision to play her final season with the Lady Hawks, one in which the 6-foot-2 center has taken the court with a partially torn ACL in her right knee she suffered during conditioning drills.

Ironically, the injury was to the same knee ACL she completely tore during a preseason scrimmage prior to the start of the 2013-14 campaign she eventually missed and allowed her another shot at closing out her four-year career.

"I was praying for peace about what to do," said Crawford, who as a fifth-year nursing student also had to consider who to balance an increased academic load with basketball before re-injuring her knee just two weeks after being cleared to play from that initial surgery. "I asked the Lord what I was supposed to do.

"My parents didn't want to see me playing in pain," she recalled about the decision-making process, "and (Shorter head coach Vic Mitchell) was worried about me. But he left the decision up to me."

"She prayed a lot about it," Mitchell said about Crawford's decision to play. "But she's very driven. She wanted to play her last year on the court."

What has been remarkable and what is truly a gutsy season for Crawford is that despite the damaged knee she has become an integral component for the Lady Hawks, who resume the second half of their Gulf South Conference schedule Thursday with a 7-10 overall record and a 3-8 conference mark visiting league foe Christian Brothers in Memphis.

This season Crawford – she has played for the Lady Hawks since she was a freshman – has started in every game for Shorter and is averaging a career-high 7.4 points a game, pulls down 3.2 rebounds an outing and leads the team with 14 blocks.

Accurate shooting from the floor and the foul line, where she has respective 48 percent and 83 percent accuracies, Crawford's time on the court is not surprisingly limited as she averages just 20 minutes a game.

"I liked it when coach Mitchell yelled at me during practice for the first time after I decided to play," Crawford said about how cautious everyone was when the season started. "It was like 'Thank God, I'm normal again.'"

Her decision to keep playing also came at a time when the Lady Hawks roster lost 6-1 center Taylor Adams, a junior transfer who was expected to play a role in the paint for Shorter.

"When Lindsey came back you could see the team's shoulders lift back up," said Mitchell, who noted the leadership and calming effect Crawford gives the team and, along with fellow senior Ieshia Alexander, became the coach's first-ever players to be voted by the team as captains during a season. "We've been fortunate to have her and in her mind she'll help us in any way she can.

"She's such a presence for us on the defensive end of the court," he said, "and since the break she looks like a different person out there having gained more confidence."

Confidence is a trait Crawford has exhibited in the classroom, where Mitchell said she carries a 3.8 grade point average, and confidence is what Shorter's Brady School of Nursing has in her as it has helped the future RN balance her studies – she begins a practical stint next week at Floyd Medical Center working back-to-back 12-hour shifts – with her basketball career.

"(The School of Nursing) reached out and told her that if she wanted to play this year they could make it work," said Mitchell. "Without that, I don't think she could have balanced her schedule in order to play.

"Lindsey's up there at the top of the list of great players I've coached," the coach said. "Playing with something like that takes a physical and mental toll, not to mention the amount of pain tolerance needed.

"But she's battled through all of that. Her faith is strong."

"Basketball is a stress reliever for me. For my team's sake, I want to do whatever I can do to help them," Crawford said as she and the Lady Hawks understand that with parity taking place in the GSC this season – nine teams including Shorter are within three games of each other – the team can become a factor.

"At this point," she said, "you can't tell who will be on top of the standings at the end of the year. There is no reason for us to get down. It all comes down to who wants it more."