NCAA Women’s Final Four Notebook : Conwell Faces Long Rehabilitation Before Rejoining Longhorns

At Locke High School in Los Angeles, she was a star on teams that finished second in the State in 1983 and won the City 4-A title in 1984. Her future was supposed to be bright at USC, but then she had to go to Odessa Junior College in Texas because of grade problems.

There, she led the Wranglers to a 73-1 record in two years, including a 36-0 and the national JC title in 1985-86. Then, skipping USC, she chose Texas as her next school, and everything was going fine for Doreatha Conwell in her junior season until the game at Texas A&M; Jan. 14.

There, she injured her right knee, requiring a 4 1/2-hour reconstructive operation. Another detour.

She had been the team’s third-leading scorer, but suddenly her career was going nowhere fast.

“To me, it’s the story of my life to get on the right track and then get set back again,” Conwell said this week after a Longhorn practice.

“It was real tough last week down in North Carolina (against Rutgers at the East Regional),” she said. “I saw my place. They could have used me because it was a close game. We had never been that close to losing since the Tennessee loss.

“I do regret the injury, but there is not a lot I can do. I have a lot of anxiety. But even though I’m not playing, I feel a part of the team.”

Added Coach Jody Conradt: “It was a very devastating loss, there is no question about that. She was new to our program as a junior college transfer and made an immediate impact and was playing very, very well. We have not been able to replace her, there is no question about that. . . . Doreatha Conwell is one of the best players in the country, so you don’t replace her at midseason.”

The prognosis has been good, even though almost every part of the knee was damaged. There has been little, if any, talk about this being a career-ending injury, and Conwell plans to spend most of the summer here in rehabilitation.

“They say I’m a couple weeks ahead of schedule with the motion in my knee,” she said. “Right now, I’m working on strength, but the doctors said they’re really pleased.”

The knees. At Texas, it’s always the knees.

Four years ago, the Longhorns had five players on the sidelines at one time or another with knee injuries, including All-American center Annette Smith.

Not all were severe and two were chronic problems, but it concerned Conradt enough to prompt her to call doctors all over the country.

“The knee injury continues to be a nemesis for women’s basketball,” Conradt said. “Nobody knows if it’s because of the body structure because women have been playing at this level of competition for such a short time. The next few years will be critical for women’s basketball in looking at these areas.”

Cindy Brown of Cal State Long Beach was named to the 10-player Kodak All-American team, which also included two players from Texas, Clarissa Davis and Andrea Lloyd.

The rest of the team consists of Tracey Hall of Ohio State, Donna Holt of Virginia, Katrina McClain of Georgia, Vickie Orr of Auburn, Shelly Pennefather of Villanova, Teresa Weatherspoon of Louisiana Tech and Sue Wicks of Rutgers.

Theresa Grentz of Rutgers has been named Converse coach of the year for Division I, as selected by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Assn.

Floyd Evans of Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, Tex., who coached at Riverside Poly High School from 1979-86, including the Cheryl Miller years, picked up the same honor in the NAIA.

Guard Margaret Mohr starred at La Reina High in Thousand Oaks and has now played four years at Cal State Long Beach, consistently one of the best teams in the nation. She is averaging 6.3 points and is the only 49er to have started every game this season. Her greatest contribution to a team that made the Final Four probably is leadership.

Still, there are some people who figure she stands out for a different reason--being the only white player on the team.

“I take pride in that because it makes me special,” Mohr said. “People say how it must bother me, but I don’t even notice it. It makes me laugh more than anything.”

Her teammates think it’s pretty funny, too. They nicknamed her Spot.

What’s in a name? Plenty, according to the NCAA.

Officials at the organization’s headquarters in Mission, Kan., are considering an attempt to copyright the the term Final Four for men’s basketball. That would leave the women, along with several other sports, with the rather blah national semifinals and national final.