Column: Adversity doesn’t stop knocking, but Mother McAuley graduate Jenna Badali is back for Lewis. Better than ever. ‘It’s 100% a blessing.’

If I were adversity, I would give up already trying to mess with Jenna Badali.

There’s no way to win. She’ll keep fighting you. And she’ll conquer you.

When I bumped into Lewis women’s basketball coach Keisha Newell at a recent Mother McAuley game, I asked her how Badali was doing. Her three-word answer was the highlight of a wonderful conversation.

“Jenna … is back!”

Believe me, you could see the exclamation mark in the smile on her face.

I couldn’t be happier to give you this Christmas update.

Badali, a former standout at McAuley, is back on the court and in the starting lineup for the Flyers (6-5). The 5-foot-6 guard is averaging 9.5 points and 2.8 rebounds and also has a team-leading 17 steals.

Best of all, she’s feeling a whole lot better — and very blessed.

“It’s 100% a blessing,” Badali said. “If you told me a year ago I’d be back playing, I don’t know if I’d believe it myself with everything I’d gone through.

“It’s definitely been a process. Every day is a different feeling. I wake up 100% some days. On others, it’s a struggle to get going. But there are more good days than bad now. I’m starting to feel like myself again. It’s good to be back on the court.”

Badali is listed as a redshirt sophomore on the roster, but she still has three more years of eligibility after this one. That’s pretty wild considering her original freshman year at Lewis started in fall 2020.

You just can’t make up the things she has been through since then.

In our last update back in April, Badali was recovering from a stress fracture in her right foot, a bout with COVID-19, mononucleosis and a heart rate irregularity. That all happened between November and February.

Badali, the Great Lakes Valley Conference’s freshman of the year, had to redshirt her sophomore season. But we all knew she was going to get the proper treatment, do all of the things she needed to get back into shape and return with gusto in the fall.

I know Newell was excited. She coached Badali during her senior year at McAuley and was looking forward to reuniting with her as Lewis’ new head coach.

“Man, it hurt,” Newell said. “And I wasn’t even coaching her at the time. I knew everything that basketball meant to her. I knew it was going to be struggle for her to watch her teammates and not be able to contribute.”

But she did — just with her presence on the bench. Now, it was time for the comeback.

Well, in August, Badali was once again diagnosed with COVID. After that, she came down with strep throat.

Seriously, adversity?

“I was never a kid to get sick, but when it hits you, it hits you, I guess,” Badali said. “There were times when I doubted it, especially when I was trying to get back to where I was.

“But I think in reality, you have to look at the big picture and the future. And everyone has just been great and supportive. It has taken a little longer to get where I want to be, but definitely my teammates, my coaches and my parents have been big.”

One of her supporters is teammate Taylor Gugliuzza, the former Lincoln-Way West standout. Gugliuzza and Badali were roommates their freshman year and still live in the same apartment complex at school.

“I was just trying to keep her positive, trying to take her mind off being sick,” Gugliuzza said. “We were all just trying to keep her involved with the team.

“I really love playing with Jenna. Last year it was tough without her. It took a while to adjust. Now that she’s back this season, it’s a lot more fun. I feel like we’re doing really well now, too.”

So take that, adversity. And don’t come back.