Indiana Basketball's Grace Berger: 'It Was Just Time That She Needed'

Indiana women's basketball senior guard Grace Berger suffered a right knee injury in November and missed nine total games before her return on Sunday. Hoosier head coach Teri Moren recaps Berger's injury timeline and how Berger's high spirits and leadership kept propelling her towards healing.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana women's basketball senior guard Grace Berger has been back in the lineup since the new year when she started practicing ahead of her return versus Northwestern on the road.

It was a long month and a half as Berger first injured her right knee at the Las Vegas Invitational in the Hoosiers' third offensive possession versus Auburn. 

"We got the best possible news when we got back from Vegas," Indiana head coach Teri Moren said. 

"The 48 hours, we were worried that it could be something much worse than what it was, and it was bad but didn't require any type of surgical procedures or anything like that."

When the team's offensive generator went down and was ruled as out indefinitely, Berger took her spot on the bench and grew more in her leadership ability since all she could contribute at the time was positive words and advice for her team.

"She was on every road trip, in every practice, and she's already a quiet leader, but I think that's where she's grown in the six weeks she was out," Moren said. "Now her voice — I thought she was terrific on the bench."

Moren added Berger gave great advice in timeouts and also maintained high spirits knowing she'd be back within four to six weeks. She stayed patient, kept up with cardio and recovery and watched her team win eight games.

"They learned how to win without her," Moren said. 

Moren said one of the good things to come out of adversity was younger kids got the chance to play in big conference games. Freshman guard Lexus Bargesser has seen more playing time at the point guard position and is now averaging 9.7 minutes per game.

Freshman guard Henna Sandvik has also been more productive putting in about 10.4 minutes per contest. Each freshman grew while Berger healed on the sidelines.

"To watch her over on the sideline, every week we saw a little bit more progress and so that gets you excited as a coach but also her teammates."

In her return versus the Wildcats, Berger scored a season-high 16 points and moved up as Indiana's 10th all-time leading scorer with 1,609 points. She'll only earn more as she herself told Moren she'd rather play all the minutes than come out and get tight on the bench.

Moren said the staff will decide how much she plays, but she's not on a minutes restriction. The Hoosiers are just happy to have their star back in time to face a No. 9-ranked Maryland squad on Thursday and other Big Ten foes to come.

"It was just time that she needed," Moren said.

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