HOMETOWN — Ashley Fannick is no stranger to putting the ball in the basket.
She’s done it hundreds of times.
But Thursday night was different. It was perhaps the most memorable basket in the Marian senior’s career.
Fannick suffered a season-ending ACL injury in early December, keeping the four-year guard from playing all but four games of her senior season.
As a part of Marian’s Senior Night festivities during Thursday’s 61-38 win over Weatherly, Fannick not only ceremoniously started, but officially scored the opening basket.
“That was probably the most nervous I’ve ever been to shoot the ball in my life,” Fannick said with a laugh. “But it went in and I could breathe after that. During practice, I’d stand there and shoot without jumping. But to actually have a crowd around you, watching you, taking pictures, it was different.”
Fannick started the season well, averaging more than 10 points in Marian’s first three games before her season was turned upside down.
The Frackville resident went down in the Fillies’ home-opener Dec. 13 — a 69-27 loss to state-ranked Holy Redeemer — and knew immediately it wasn’t good. She later found out she tore the ACL in her right knee.
The feeling was one all too familiar for the senior, who suffered a long line of injuries — beginning with an ACL tear in her left knee during her freshman year.
“It was so heartbreaking, it really was,” Fannick said. “When I tore my ACL freshman year, it took everything in my power, so much time, effort and sweat, to get back to where I was.
“Finally, senior year it paid off. I was starting, I was a captain, I was individually having a good season and the team was having a good season. It was extremely, extremely heartbreaking that all the hard work that finally had been paying off for me, it was done.”
After the first ACL tear in December 2011, Fannick’s recovery time was faster than normal. She was cleared to play again after five months. The average
recovery time is about 6-8 months.
Then in February 2013 — her sophomore season — she broke her nose contesting for a rebound. Following surgery, the only way she could play was if she wore a protective face mask, which she did ... just two weeks after suffering the injury.
“I think that was worse than any of the injuries, just playing with the mask,” Fannick joked. “It kind of made me go cross-eyed. You couldn’t see to begin with. To wear that along with the knee brace on the left knee ... you look funny and you felt funny playing.”
During an AAU game the ensuing spring, Fannick fractured her elbow, an injury that caused her to miss a few weeks of Marian’s offseason program.
Through her junior year, Fannick’s only injury came in the form of a sprained ankle, which, given her history, was a minor inconvenience.
“It’s the kind of thing which most kids, at some point during that process of having to rehab and surgeries, they’d figure, ‘Is this really worth it?’ And a lot of people would say no,” Marian coach Paul Brutto said.
“To hang in there and come back multiple times and finish her career is quite a testament to her persistence, her mental toughness and her physical toughness. She can be an inspiration to other kids that, unfortunately, have to face those kinds of circumstances.”
Though her most recent injury has prevented her from aiding the Fillies on the court, it hasn’t stopped Fannick from doing her best off the court.
Fannick was recently named Marian’s female scholar-athlete, an honor given to a student who balances multiple sports and academics.
She’s also at every Fillies’ game and makes every practice.
“She’s been a leader,” Brutto said. “It’s much more difficult when you’re not involved in games or practices, but she’s done a great job with it in terms of communicating with the kids, encouraging the kids, getting messages to them from me. Considering how hard it is to do from the sideline, she’s done a great job with it.”
An emotional leader of the team, Fannick still sings the national anthem before every home game and her teammates join in for the final stanza. She sang the anthem during all four years of her career, last season alongside older sister Emily.
“At practice, she’s always looking in, helping us out and giving us tips,” said Marian senior Abbey Whildin, the team’s other captain. “I always see her cheering on the sideline during the game. She’s always really supportive with everything and always trying to help us.”
And it’s paying off.
Despite injuries to Fannick and Savanna Krusinsky, the Fillies (13-5, 9-2 D-III) are in good position to win the Schuylkill League Division III crown. They hold a one-game lead over Shenandoah Valley in the standings with just two games remaining.
Through all of the setbacks Fannick has experienced, she remains a positive motivator for the team. Her persistence has rubbed off on a team that is no stranger to adversity.
“When she first got hurt, I was devastated,” said Whildin, the team’s only returning starter from last season. “I told her that I would play for her the rest of the year, that everything I do is for her because she’s one of my best friends off the court. I just wanted to do as much as I can for her on the court, too, since she couldn’t.”
That wasn’t necessary Thursday night. Brutto said the idea of Fannick scoring stemmed from a similar situation with the boys’ team last season.
Anthony Agosti was on crutches last season during his Senior Night and was in the starting lineup for the jump ball. Fannick’s mobility, coupled with generous consent by Weatherly and coach Kevin Kringe, allowed her to do a little bit more.
It floored Fannick when she heard the plan.
“It was just great news,” she said. “I was practicing that layup for days.”
Her college plans aren’t determined yet, but Fannick would like to keep playing basketball at least at the club level.
It appears as though nothing can keep Fannick down, or, at the very least, away from the basketball court.
“I’m still going to treat my therapy and coming back after this as if I am coming back to a season,” she said. “Because that’s just like my motivator. That’s what pushes me.”