Despite injury, Nicole Ryan leading the American University women

When the American women's basketball team takes the court Saturday evening in Bethlehem, Pa., for the Patriot League championship game against top-seeded Lehigh, the Eagles' most important player will be sitting on the bench and not wearing her uniform.

Senior guard Nicole Ryan hasn't made a shot, passed or dribbled a ball since she tore her Achilles' tendon in early December. But second-seeded AU wouldn't be playing for its first NCAA tournament bid without her.

"She's pretty much irreplaceable on this team," said teammate Michelle Kirk, the Patriot League player of the year. "She helps with so many different aspects on and off the court. She helps hold this team together, pulls us tighter during games when we need it, and she's always in our ears telling us what we should be doing. Honestly, I think she's the hardest working player that has been on this team."

All her life, all Ryan has wanted to do was play basketball. She is a coach's daughter -- her father is the men's coach at Central Florida Community College -- who grew up helping him dissect game film.

But even before she arrived at American, Ryan was betrayed by her body. She suffered two torn anterior cruciate ligaments in high school, which led many schools to back off recruiting her. AU was one of the few that didn't.

Yet almost from the moment she arrived on campus, Ryan has spent more time in doctors' offices than on the court. In her first season, she missed 11 games because of a stress fracture in her shin. She needed meniscus surgery on her knee between her freshman and sophomore years.

During her sophomore season, she injured her wrist. Though she didn't miss any games that season, she endured two wrist surgeries because it wouldn't heal properly. It also forced her to sit out her junior season.

After playing the following season on a nonfunctional ACL, Ryan had her third ACL surgery on her left knee during the offseason. Then, just before this season started, she had another meniscus surgery on that knee.

Though Ryan -- who was voted the team's most valuable player last season -- came into this season determined to put all her medical problems behind her, her body wouldn't let her. In the Dec. 2 game at Drexel, Ryan made a move she has made countless times in a game.

"I caught the ball, took one step back and I felt it go," she said. "It just felt like someone fell behind me. By the time my coach and my trainer, Holly [Hewitt], came out to the court, I just turned around and I looked at Holly and I was like, 'I tore my Achilles.' I was just bawling because I knew it was over. It didn't hurt that much. I just knew the significance of it."

Eight days later, she had surgery to repair the tendon. Given the typical recovery time for this injury, Ryan would not play again this season. Her career was over. In five years at AU, Ryan got to play less than three seasons because of her injuries.

But Ryan hasn't sulked, taken a woe-is-me attitude or distanced herself from the team.