Redshirt junior Madeline Wheeler’s season was sadly cut short last month in a game against McMurry, where she suffered her fourth knee injury.

“When I went down I thought I tore everything in my knee and felt like my shin bone wasn’t attached to my leg,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler’s  career has been full of injuries. Her first injury occurred her senior year of high school when she tore her right meniscus. At St. Edward’s, she spent a couple of years battling ACL and meniscus tears, which forced her to redshirt her sophomore year. She continued to fight strong and was able to play in twenty games for the Hilltoppers this year before the McMurry game, in which she tore her ACL, MCL and both meniscuses.

“After the first one I thought I wasn’t going to come back if it happened again,” Wheeler said. “I love basketball and sometimes you just really want to keep playing.”

One of the things she has learned is to play each game like it is her last.

“I’ve been grateful for each time I’ve been on the court. You have to take it as a learning experience each time,” she said. “At some point you have to throw in the towel and say ‘my body isn’t cut out for this anymore.’”

Not only did her injury affect her, but it also had a big impact on the rest of her team. Coach J.J. Riehl said that at that point in the season, Wheeler was a huge part of what her team was doing on the floor.

“It was really hard to see her go through this heartache and pain yet again. We had really become a family and now Maddie wasn’t with us on the road or in the gym,” Riehl said.

Though Wheeler still has another year of eligibility due to redshirting, she isn’t going to be playing basketball. She insists that her family and future must now come first.

“I love my team and it’s a lot of fun, but I have to choose between running with my kids when I’m 40 or basketball for another year,” Wheeler said.

Earlier in the season, Wheeler was St. Edward’s leading scorer and was awarded the Heartland Conference player of the week and named to the All-Heartland Conference first-team. With the help of Wheeler and her teammates, the Hilltoppers went on to win the Conference for the first time and appear in the NCAA tournament.

“I was crying tears of joy when we won. I was so proud,” Wheeler said. “I still felt like I was contributing cheering them on.” 

While collegiate basketball is no longer in Wheeler’s future, she has not ruled basketball out of her life forever.

As for Riehl, she finds Wheeler’s fighting spirit admirable.

“She’s had a great career despite all the setbacks and obstacles,” Riehl said. “And those will not define her career, but rather the way she has responded to them.”

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