By Craig Pearson
TERRE HAUTE — The injury bug has struck the Indiana State women’s basketball team again, this time before the 2009-10 regular season has even begun.
One of ISU’s most promising freshmen, 6-foot-3 Andrea Rademacher, has suffered what coach Jim Wiedie called a “small chip in one of the bones in her foot.”
Rademacher will be a medical redshirt this season and will return for the 2010-11 season.
“It won’t require surgery, but it will keep her out the majority of the year,” Wiedie said.
Rademacher might have been able to return around the middle of January.
“We’re going to redshirt her and have her for a full four years,” Wiedie said.
Wiedie expected Rademacher, who averaged 26.1 points at Borden (Ind.) High School last season, to be a key cog in the Sycamores’ plans this season.
“I had anticipated and based on what we’d seen in the preseason, I thought she’d play a significant role this year with her size and athletic ability, being able to post up and step away from the basket,” Wiedie said. “It hurts us from a depth standpoint. It’s obviously disappointing for Andrea, she was so looking forward to playing this year.”
As a freshman in eligibility next year, Rademacher will now join ISU’s 2010 recruits, which includes three guards: Anna Munn of Decatur Central, Nikki Gunning of Howell, Mich., and Illyssa Vivo of Plantation, Fla.
“If there is a bright spot, it does give her a year under her belt to get acclimated to school, to get stronger,” Wiedie said. “Sometimes it takes posts a little longer to adjust to the college game so I think it will be a good thing for her. With three guards in the 2010 class, it makes that class even stronger. In the long run, it should be a good thing for the team.”
In the short term, ISU will make some adjustments. Senior Laurence Rivest is healthy, 6-3 freshman Moriah Hodge can play a post and perimeter role, and 6-0 sophomore Chelsea Buher might “start working a little bit more at the 4 [position],” Wiedie said.
Another ISU freshman, Meaghan MacDougall has yet to have surgery for a condition known as exertional compartment syndrome, which was diagnosed earlier this fall. MacDougall, a native of Canada, has ran into “insurance issues,” Wiedie said.
