Grant’s Melissa Ketter rediscovers her love for basketball. Oddly enough, a season-ending injury pushed her.

A season-ending injury may have preserved Grant guard Melissa Ketter’s basketball career two years ago.

Ketter’s passion for the sport, fostered around the hoop outside her childhood home, was waning as her sophomore season approached.

“I’ve had a love-hate relationship with basketball,” she said. “I didn’t think I was good enough at times and would get mad at myself for making mistakes and tear myself up.”

A short car ride would remind Ketter of a simpler time.

“We moved two minutes away from our old house, and I would drive by it and look at the hoop in the front yard and think of all the memories,” she said. “That’s where I bonded with my family, with my siblings and dad. That’s where I played with a lot of friends. It still brings back good memories when everything was easier.”

Then Ketter suffered torn ankle ligaments about two weeks into her sophomore season, her first on varsity.

Amid the rehab and her time away from the court, she said she missed the sport.

“The injury made me realize I was in a funk,” she said. “If I wanted to keep playing, I had to pull myself away from the edge and find a way to love the sport again.”

So Ketter recommitted to basketball. She joined an AAU team for the first time, and she ran cross country and track to improve her conditioning.

Now in the middle of her senior season, Ketter is a team captain for the Bulldogs and plans to continue her basketball career at Aurora University, where she expects to run too.

“I’m glad I pushed through,” she said. “It helped me realize that this is the path I wanted to take.”

Capable of playing both guard spots, Ketter is averaging 16.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.0 steals this season. She has two double-doubles, and she scored a career-high 31 points in Grant’s pivotal Northern Lake County Conference win against Antioch on Feb. 1. The Bulldogs (14-15, 8-4) are in third place in the conference.

Grant coach Andrea Weaver said she has seen a much different side of Ketter since her injury.

“Before this year, I used to coach on the lower levels, and Melissa has always been a leader,” Weaver said. “She’s a kid who truly lives and breathes basketball. She has such a passion and heart for it. She’s always keeping people on the team on task.”

Ketter, who set a personal record in cross country with a time of 19 minutes, 58.82 seconds at the Class 3A Hoffman Estates Sectional in October, said she wants to qualify for state in the 300-meter hurdles before she heads to college.

The basketball court will be waiting.

“It’s bittersweet because the game will be completely different next year,” Ketter said. “I’ve made so many memories and had so many struggles in the sport. I’m excited that I kept fighting to have a chance to play at the next level.”

Bobby Narang is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.