BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
EDINBURG — A’nnika Saenz was a freshman for the Bobcats last season, but she didn’t play with the IQ of a typical freshman.
Her decision-making on the court was wise beyond her years. She had the height of a forward with the ball handling and shooting ability of a guard. Saenz was a starter (8.9 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 2.0 steals in 36 games) on a team ranked No. 1 in the Valley to end last season with The Monitor’s All-Area Player of the Year (Jayla Santa Maria) as one of the Bobcats’ star attractions.
However, two games before the 2018 playoffs, Saenz had a breakaway layup opportunity versus PSJA Southwest. When she came down, she felt a twinge in her right knee. The twinge wasn’t serious enough to keep her from missing extended time, but her coaches decided to hold her out until EHS’ bi-district round game at Los Fresnos.
As Saenz and her teammates warmed up before their game against the Falcons, Saenz went up for a layup and her right knee gave out as soon as she landed. The timing could not have been worse.
“I knew that was kind of the end for me,” Saenz said. “’How could this happen?’ I spent all year working hard for that moment. I gave myself to my teammates the same way they gave themselves for me. It felt wrong to not be a part of that experience.”
Her test results revealed that it was an ACL tear, and she was set to have surgery Feb. 28, 2018. Saenz watched her teammates break into the area round and then fall six points shy of round three against Laredo United.
“My dad and I talked about only coming back to the court when I was at full capacity — mentally and physically,” Saenz said. “I realized that I couldn’t be ready mentally and physically until I put myself in a situation where I do need to push my body.”
Saenz’s doctor cleared her for basketball activities eight-and-a-half months into the typical nine-month wait time, but she had already begun working out before being cleared.
“After I got released, I started working a lot more on my defense and shooting,” Saenz said. “One of our (Edinburg High) fans in the stands would tell me about how I shot the ball, and I’d see it in film too. I’d bring the ball across my body and wouldn’t shoot correctly. I worked on that with my AAU coach. That really helped me to prepare and come back stronger than ever.”
Saenz returned to the court at a November non-district tournament in La Joya. Edinburg High coach J.D. Salinas wanted to gradually bring her back into the rotation, but Saenz suffered another setback.
“She had a real awkward fall in La Joya where she landed on both knees. It turned out to be a bone bruise, so she was out another four weeks,” Salinas said. “We tried to work her back in through the Christmas break. We closely monitored everything she was doing because she put so much time into this. It was hard, but I’m proud of how she’s handled all of this. She’s always had a great attitude.”
Saenz appeared in 16 games this season, averaging 8.1 points and 3.4 rebounds. The Bobcats have dealt with significant injuries to pieces like center Brianna Sanchez but have managed to post 29 regular season wins and force a first-place tie with Weslaco High.
The Bobcats and Panthers, who both finished 11-1 in district play and split both district meetings, will square off for District 31-6A’s top seed at 7 p.m. tonight on the Donna North campus. Thursday will be the fourth Edinburg High-Weslaco High meeting of the year.
With a few days until the bi-district round tips off, Salinas inserted Saenz back into the starting lineup Tuesday against the Chiefs. She tallied eight points, seven rebounds, three assists, one steal and a blocked shot.
“She’s been playing a lot of minutes lately, almost starter’s minutes, but there’s a lot of things that come into play in team sports,” Salinas said. “When we subbed girls out and put A’nnika or Brianna (Sanchez) in, those two were starters for us last year. It helped our team moving in the right direction. Our coaching staff talked about what it could mean if or when we make a change like that. In A’nnika’s situation, she was already playing 20 to 25 minutes per game. We felt like it’d be the best time to make that change now.”
“Coming off the bench or starting hasn’t really fazed me that much,” Saenz said. “You still have a role to play that your coaches give to you. It’s not about starting or coming off the bench. You have to impact the game if you get in there. That’s all that matters.”