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b a s k e t b a l l p l a y e r f e a t u r e : Back In Action w h i t n e y b a y s Bays has taken long journey to get to Purdue BY KYLE CHARTERS KCharters@GoldandBlack.com I n July of 2009, Brittany Bays was enjoying time with friends at an amusement park near Cincinnati when she received a phone call she didn't want to receive. Her younger sister, Whitney, the pride and joy of the basketball-loving Bays' family and one of the nation's top prospects, had been injured. It was a knee, and it was probably bad. "I was at Kings Island — it was one of the few times I wasn't at her AAU games — and Tom Campbell (my parents) called me and said they heard a Since first tearing the ACL in her left knee in the summer of 2009, Whithuge pop," said Brittany Bays, herself a two- ney Bays has played only one season. Now, multiple surgeries later, the time victim of ACL tears, "which is a telltale junior forward hopes to be ready to get back on the court this year. sign. Months after the injury, she signed with national pow"They asked me because I had been through it twice at er Maryland, but sat out the ensuing senior high school that point, what the symptoms were. And I told them, and season. Then, she was out the following year, her rookie right then they knew she had torn it." season with the Terrapins, while undergoing a meniscus That, of course, was more than four years ago. Since, surgery and continuing to rehab. it's been a long road, with multiple setbacks and surgeries, Bays returned to action in 2010-11, but the left knee and so very little basketball played. still wasn't right and she played only about 10 minutes per Now, however, Whitney Bays is feeling better than she game. And in Maryland's final game of the NCAA Tournahas in years. Following a transfer from Maryland and a seament, the knee gave out again, blowing out its ACL. son on Purdue's sideline, she's likely to be in the lineup, as "I never in a thousand years thought she would re-tear a starter, when the Boilermakers tip off in November. it and re-tear it and re-tear it," Brittany Bays said, adding "I feel good, better than I have in a very long time," the on a third ACL injury for effect. 6-foot-2 junior forward said. "That's due to my teammates The string of injuries leaves Whitney Bays a bit of a and coaches. Coming back from a major injury, it kind of mystery as she readies for her debut season in gold and takes a mental toll, as well. So staying positive and just black. Consider how good she was back then: A two-time keep pushing and knowing there are good things to come Gatorade Player-of-the-Year in West Virginia after her has kept me going." sophomore and junior seasons at Huntington High School, But, boy, maintaining a positive outlook has been trying. Bays helped lead the Highlanders to three straight state Once one of the nation's top prospects, Bays has played finals; she averaged 24.4 points and 11.1 rebounds as a juonly a season of basketball since the summer of '09, and nior, when she was named the West Virginia Player-of-theeven then she wasn't very healthy. 80 IllustrateD volume 24, issue 2 f