Sarasota senior rounds back into form after serious knee injury

Ja’Da Bennett still wears a bulky brace on her left leg, and her doctor recommends that she wears it for the rest of her basketball career.

Even though Bennett says it does not affect her play, the brace is a cruel reminder of the pain she felt, and the opportunity she lost that she is now trying to get back.

On Dec. 3, 2015, Bennett’s Sarasota Sailors were playing Lakewood Ranch. As Bennett recalls, she was driving to the basket when her foot got impeded.

“I whipped my leg forward and it (her knee) just popped back,” Bennett said.

Bennett went down. It hurt, but she did not know at the time just how severe the injury was. In fact, just before halftime, she was planning to re-enter the game, but never got a chance. During the break, the knee pain worsened, and a team trainer held her out.

Postgame, Bennett went to the hospital and received the most-feared diagnosis. She had torn her anterior cruciate ligament, as well as her meniscus.

“She stormed right out of the room,” said Kimberly Jenkins, Bennett’s mother. “The nurse tried to go get her, and I said, ‘No, leave her alone.’ She was out there by the lake just crying her little heart out. That night, when she got out of the shower, I saw it in her face. Her eyes were red. She was literally crying all day and night.”

Rehab was frustrating. There were points when Bennett was not able to keep up with her doctor’s timeline. She decided to work even harder, adding workouts by herself at the Sarasota YMCA to her sessions with her trainer. Three days a week she would focus on strength, two days a week on balance.

Her first game back on the court was the Sailors’ preseason opener against Alonso. In the practices leading up to the game, Bennett worried about how her knee would hold up. It was a mental hurdle she had to overcome, but once she arrived at Sarasota’s Edward F. Howell gymnasium and stepped into the locker room, all worries washed away.

“It was like I never left,” Bennett said.

Indeed, the 5-foot-9 senior forward has played well this season, even being named the MVP of the Lady Ram Jam Holiday Classic on Dec. 22, when she scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the Sailors’ championship game win over The Bolles School. On Dec. 6, Bennett faced off against Lakewood Ranch for the first time since the injury. Although the Sailors lost, Bennett was able to notch a double-double (12 points, 10 rebounds).

Before the injury, Bennett had scouts from NCAA Division I schools North Florida and Brown coming to watch her play, Jenkins said. Missing the travel ball season during the summer stunted Bennett’s recruitment. Now, one of her goals is to receive a scholarship from anywhere. She has been in touch with Eckerd College and Barry University, both Division II schools, but has not received a concrete offer as of yet.

If basketball does not work out, Bennett should still find success. Jenkins described her daughter as a very serious person, especially when it came to academics.

“I would ask her about a boy, and she would say, “I don’t want no boyfriend, I don’t want my grades to drop,’” Jenkins said.

Bennett’s subject of choice is math. She’s always been good with numbers, she said.

Well, here are some numbers of interest: 16-1. That is the Sailors’ record this season. The team has a real chance to reach the Final Four for the first time since 2013-14, when Bennett was a freshman and led the team in rebounding. Not only would that be nice closure to her high school career, but it would be a chance for Bennett to perform on the biggest stage.

No better way to attract recruiters than that.