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IOWA CITY, Iowa — It’s hard for a basketball player to take positives out of season-ending injuries. You aren’t able to compete with your teammates and play the sport you love. Kathryn Reynolds suffered an ACL injury at maybe the worst possible time as a high school player, but used that injury to help her decide where to go to college.
Reynolds, a 5-7 guard from Cincinnati, Ohio, tore her ACL just six games into her junior season of high school basketball at Mount Notre Dame High School. Her team was coming off back-to-back Ohio state championships, including her freshman season where she hit a lay-up at the buzzer to win the title.
In the recruiting world, the summer between a high school players’ junior and senior season is important. College coaches get one last chance to evaluate talent during the AAU circuit before making decisions. Reynolds had just lost that chance to show her skills one more time during the summer.
It was through that injury, however, that Reynolds found a home at Iowa.
“I visited Iowa after I got hurt,” Reynolds said. “The coaches stuck with me after I got hurt and were really supportive. I had a feeling after my visit that Iowa was the place. Their support really helped.”
The Hawkeye coaching staff not only supported Reynolds, but made her feel more confident about returning to the court.
“After you have a season-ending injury like I had coaches don’t have the option to evaluate you during the summer,” Reynolds said. “The coaches remained interested and told me that I would come back stronger and they still wanted me. Just knowing they weren’t worried about my injury made me even less worried about it.”
Reynolds recovered just fine from her ACL injury, averaging 16 points and 2.5 steals in her senior season. She was a first team all-conference selection and was picked for the Ohio-Kentucky All-Star game.
Reynolds is just getting started in a Hawkeye uniform and has paid attention to the numerous upperclassmen guards on the roster.
“They are all really willing to help out,” Reynolds said. “There are a lot of times they don’t even know they are helping out, just because you can observe and see how the upperclassmen do things. They have been really helpful.”
Reynolds might be able to return the favor by assisting her teammates on the upcoming foreign trip. Reynolds is one of the few players who have been overseas, traveling to Italy last summer with her family. Reynolds’ father, Terry, is the Director of Global Scouting for the Cincinnati Reds, and took the family with to Italy.
Terry travels across the globe for the Reds, and Reynolds picked up the travel bug from her father. “He has traveled a lot for my entire life,” Reynolds said. “He travels all over to major and minor league parks to scout, and he travels all over the world to watch players. I probably enjoy traveling so much because he has done it forever.”
Even though Reynolds likes to see other places, playing close to home in Big Ten country was a factor in her decision.
“I wanted to play close to home,” Reynolds said. “I’d like to be able to have my family come and see me play. I love spending time with my family.”
Reynolds had plenty of options when it came to choosing a college. The support of the Hawkeye coaching staff during her ACL injury and the people surrounding the program made it an easy decision.
“I met with a lot of different schools,” Reynolds said. “Out of all of those, I was the most comfortable with Iowa. I could see myself playing in their system and under those coaches. I’m happy things worked out the way they did.”