Fresno State Athletics
Wounded But Upbeat
2/20/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 20, 2001
by Brian Risso, Fresno State Media Relations
For most college athletes, a possible season-ending injury after a promising start would be more than enough reason to begin looking forward to next year. Add in the fact that the team you play for is in the middle of the conference pack and five games under the .500 mark overall. One would begin to wonder how a player could stay mentally tough through this kind of adversity. Fresno State sophomore Laura Garcia just doesn't see it that way.
The Bulldog guard remains as optimistic as ever. Garcia, who tore the posterior cruciate ligament in her left knee in the second half of Fresno State's contest against SMU on Jan. 12, is expected to miss at least the next three weeks and team doctors have said she has a 50 percent chance of returning this season. However, she believes that return date may arrive sooner if all continues to go well.
"The knee has been coming along fine," said Garcia. "So far it's been great and it hasn't really gotten to the point where I've become frustrated with it."
That kind of upbeat attitude is what makes a player like Garcia so valuable to a young squad such as the Bulldogs. Fresno State was 2-3 in the WAC and 6-11 overall entering their Jan. 26 game at UTEP, but had claimed a solid victory against Nevada in front of a record home crowd in the previous game. The Bulldogs had begun to string together some quality performances and improve on both sides of the ball before being hit by the injury bug. Garcia and teammate Chantea Fleming, who had sat out the last eight games with a stress fracture in her left leg, have been unavailable for the past few games and with a roster of only nine players to begin with, Fresno State can ill afford to lose many players to injuries.
"I think we just need to keep up the same intensity we've been playing with and if everything goes well, we can really start to get going," explained Garcia.
Garcia had been one of the lone bright spots in the Bulldog's season before her injury. The Fresno, Calif., native was averaging 6.2 points per game, along with 2.9 rebounds per game. More importantly, Garcia was second on the team in assists, averaging 3.7 per game and 56 total. She has arguably the quickest feet of anyone on the team and hit the game-winning shot against Boise State in the Bulldog's 66-62 victory. This season has been an impressive follow-up to last year's freshman campaign, when Garcia put up equally respectable numbers (8.6 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.8 apg). Garcia and teammate Lindsay Logan, a potential All-American candidate, give the Bulldogs a formidable backcourt when both are in the lineup at the same time.
"We're already good friends off the court and that makes it easier for us when we step on the court since we always know where each other is," said Garcia. "We just look for each other when we're out there. It becomes easier on the court when you're close friends."
And Garcia has no problem fitting right into a team's personality. The 5-foot-6 guard played three sports (basketball, softball, and volleyball) in high school and knows how crucial it is for teammates to gel with one another.
"I'm a very competitive person and the challenge to be equally good at all three sports is what drives me," added Garcia.
When you think about it, Garcia has no choice but to be a competitive person. The sophomore is the youngest of 10 siblings, and growing up in such a large family often required such competitiveness, as all of her brothers were avid soccer players. On the other hand, being the baby of the family certainly had its advantages.
"My sisters didn't play anything but being the youngest, I did get spoiled a lot," admitted Garcia. "When I first started playing, they (my brothers) were older and started working and bought me everything I needed."
Garcia is on her own these days. And while she may be temporarily hampered by an injury and her team is struggling to get to the next level, you wouldn't know it by her upbeat demeanor. After all, it would take much more than that to keep Garcia from accomplishing her goals.
