We continue our brief profiles of each member of the 2010-11 Creighton women’s basketball team. Join us each weekday from now until the women’s season opener against Liberty at the Wolfpack Invitational for an introduction to this year’s Bluejays, from freshmen to seniors.
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Jim Flanery welcomes six freshmen to the Creighton program this fall. Bluejays fans will likely get a chance to see all of them play, except for Riley Norman.
Norman, one year removed from tearing the ACL in her right knee, suffered the same injury during preseason practice and is out for the year. It was a devastating blow for the freshman from Des Moines.
“It is pretty hard to describe how frustrating this was for me,” Norman told WBR. “As hard as it was the first time, it was a million times worse the second time.
“It is especially upsetting that I don’t get to have the same experience as the rest of the freshmen do,” she said. “Having an injury in collegiate sports is really hard because it is easy to feel lost or get behind.”
Riley Norman will miss this season due to a right knee injury
Despite missing part of her senior season at Des Moines Roosevelt High School, Norman made All-Iowa for a second year in a row. When healthy she is a defensive standout; she recorded 99 steals in 20 games last season and once swiped 18 steals in one game. She finished in the top 10 in scoring average among Iowa’s Class 4A players in both her junior and senior seasons. Local schools Drake, Iowa, and Northern Iowa recruited Norman, whose father played for the Hawkeyes, but she did not want to play that close to home.
“Drake is literally 5 minutes away, which is why Creighton was a much better option for me,” she said. “When I visited Creighton I loved the team and I could imagine myself getting along with them. I also liked the coaches and Flan’s style of coaching.”
Norman will rely heavily on her fellow freshmen to help her work back from the injury. “Having had to sit out so much, I’ve had the opportunity to watch practices and see all the girls in action,” Norman said. “I think all of them are beginning to adjust to the new high speed of the basketball here, and each day they are getting better.”
Bluejays fans hope that Norman gets better soon, too.