For three players on the Bluejay women’s basketball team, being a part of this team means something different than the others. The ‘Bench Mob’ attends every practice and game, home and away, but knee injuries keep all three out of uniform.
“Injuries are one of the hardest things to deal with in sports … It helps that they have each other,” head coach Jim Flanery said.
Senior guard Carli Tritz, senior forward Riley Norman and sophomore guard/forward Taylor Johnson have each had at least two surgeries performed on their knees since the start of their college career. However, that is where the similarities end between the back-stories of the three players.
As a senior entering the final half of her fourth season as a Bluejay, Norman has only put on a jersey during one exhibition game. Still, she stays with the team at every practice and road game. Norman could be called the Bench Mob captain.
“I wanted to be a part of the team and they made me feel like I was,” Norman said.
As a player that has never gotten to see the court, it helps keep it all in perspective for the rest of the team.
“She humbles everyone else; you can’t really complain about hard practices when she has never even had the chance to complain,” Tritz said.
Norman has kept her head high and stayed positive through her four years on the team.
“Riley is genuinely inspirational. In terms of, she never really got to put on a uniform … You tend to take her for granted because she’s so low maintenance that you can forget how much she’s been through,” Flanery said.
Tritz, on the other hand, earned MVC Freshman of the Year after her first season and was named MVC Tournament MVP her sophomore season. To top those two honors off, she scored her 1,000th career point in her 88th game during her junior season. Coming into preseason this year, Tritz was hoping her most recent surgery attempting to replace the cartilage in her knee was effective. It wasn’t.
The failed surgery forced her to announce that she wouldn’t be on the court this season due to daily knee pain, earning her spot in the Bench Mob.
“I still get really frustrated because I want to be out there so bad, but then I try to step back and think about something I could say because that is all I have left, is to be a voice,” Tritz said.
Nelson said that when Tritz announced she wouldn’t be playing this season she cried for Tritz as her friend, not as her teammate, exemplifying how tight knit this team is on and off the court.
“There are long road trips where we’d just be on the road together 24/7 and we’ll get back and be like ‘Get me away from these people,’ and then the next day we’re like ‘Let’s go get dinner together,’” Johnson said.
As a redshirt sophomore, Johnson is in a different position from the other two. Her knee pain might subside over the course of the summer or even over the course of next season, giving her a chance to play again.
“It’s complicated because I have to think about the future,” Johnson said.
“There’s a chance that if I do come back to play, I may eventually need a knee replacement.”
Johnson is doing everything she can to prevent herself from going down that path. As the only one of the three that isn’t graduating, Johnson is hopeful to play.
Despite their inability to play, all three players still travel with the team.
“On a lot of teams, if you’re injured, you’re done. You’re off the team,” Johnson said. “Coach Flanery is really understanding.”
It would take away from the rest of the team’s experience because they’ve come to count on [the injured players] in an emotional way … [the team] relies on their emotion,” Flanery said.
During games, the Bench Mob is active and animated on the sideline, cheering their teammates on.
“We’d be watching game film of ourselves and the team would be like ‘Look at the Bench Mob, they’re going crazy,’” Tritz said.
As the emotional rock and source of energy for the team, the Bench Mob will help lead the team into the last half of this season and potentially to a spot in the NCAA tournament.