On the Mend : Basketball: CS Northridge center Sandi Olson has battled back from a leg injury suffered in a traffic accident that cost her an entire season.

Her first preseason basketball scrimmage was less than a day away, and her English class had just been excused earlier than usual. Things seemed to be going right for Sandi Olson on Nov. 4, 1988.

But the Cal State Northridge freshman’s good mood, car, and plans for the basketball season all were crushed in an instant.

As Olson steered into the dormitory parking lot after a short drive from class, an oncoming car crashed into her vehicle, sending it into a spin.

A piece of metal from under the dashboard pierced Olson’s left leg just below the kneecap. The metal split apart her quadriceps muscle, ripped muscles from behind her knee, and bruised various parts of her body. Both vehicles were destroyed.

At first, Olson feared her basketball career had been snuffed out, too.

“I couldn’t feel anything,” Olson said. “I just felt this hole (in her leg). I just remember looking down and saying, ‘Oh, my God.’ My leg looked as if it were sliced into two pieces. My books were floating in a pool of blood, and there was glass everywhere. I was just trying to hold my leg together. I thought for sure my leg was going to be amputated.”

The result wasn’t quite so catastrophic, but it was serious enough to require immediate surgery. More than 100 stitches were used to piece together Olson’s quadriceps and 25 staples were needed to close a laceration down to the bone. Olson’s leg was placed in a brace and she remained in the hospital for more than a week.

As a senior at Armijo High in Fairfield, Calif., the preceding season, the 6-foot-2 Olson had been selected co-Most Valuable Player of the Monticello Empire League after averaging 19 points and 11 rebounds.

Leslie Milke, CSUN’s coach, was hoping the addition of Olson would help the Lady Matadors dethrone Cal Poly Pomona, the seven-time defending champion of the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.

Fortunately, the accident caused only muscle damage. Although Olson’s knee absorbed most of the impact, the metal had missed tendons and ligaments.

Nevertheless, Olson still faced intense rehabilitation. At first, even simple tasks were difficult.

“It took me a couple of days before I could even sit up, and I collapsed when I tried to stand up,” Olson said. “I eventually took my first step and everybody in the hospital applauded.”

By the end of January, 1989, Olson was jogging and doing light workouts with the team. During the summer, she continued to work out on her own, lifting weights and playing in as many pickup basketball games as she could.

The hard work has paid off this season.

On Nov. 17, more than 20 months after her last organized game, Olson led the Lady Matadors with 23 points in their season opener, a 77-56 victory over Chico State. Then she scored 18 points in a loss to Alaska-Fairbanks.

Going into Saturday night’s game at Southern Utah State, Olson ranks second on the team in scoring (9.0 points a game) and in rebounding (5.9). She has led Northridge (3-11) in scoring in six games and in rebounding in three.

“(The accident) might have been a blessing in disguise,” Milke said. “Out of high school, Sandi had the potential to be a very good player, but she still needed work in the basic skill areas. I think that extra year of maturity has helped her. She’s a hard worker and made the adjustment to our program very well.”

By redshirting last season, Olson also will be eligible for three years of NCAA Division I basketball. Northridge, a Division II school, will be moving up to Division I at the end of this season.

“In the beginning, my knee felt a little weak when I made lateral movements,” Olson said. “But now, it feels as good as ever.”

A 13-inch scar which begins under her knee, winds around her kneecap and runs halfway up her thigh is left to remind Olson of her ordeal.

After practice in the on-campus apartment she shares with Stacy Cox, Olson is frantically running from room to room, packing her belongings for an upcoming road trip.

It is a week before finals and Cox is busy typing a term paper. The two joke as they reminisce about the accident.

“Do you remember when you tried to walk up that grass hill near the library one day when it was real windy?” Cox asks.

“Uh huh, everybody was looking at me . . . ,” Olson recalled. “It took me forever just to take one step.”

“Yeah, and you almost blew over after each one,” Cox responded before bursting into laughter.

“I was in the apartment when the accident happened,” she continued. “I remember hearing everybody shouting, ‘Sandi’s been in an accident, Sandi’s been in an accident.’ I looked outside and there were ambulances and fire trucks everywhere. It’s funny now when we look back, but back then we were all very worried.”

Said Olson: “I think the biggest lesson I learned was patience. Redshirting last season was difficult. The hardest thing was just sitting and watching the team play.

“It’s been a long road back.”