‘I’m stronger than I was before.’ She thought her season was over. Look at her now.
Coming into 2021, Green County’s Kylie Jackson believed she was playing the best basketball of her life.
Despite a season disrupted by the pandemic and playing in the 5th Region where some of the state’s best teams have menaced the Dragons her whole career, Jackson, Green County’s leading scorer since she was a sophomore, felt good about her senior year.
That all came crashing down against Russell County on Jan. 16 — literally.
Minutes after falling hard to the court on a drive — knees first — and being shaken up and taken out of Green County’s fourth game of the year, a strong-willed Jackson returned, refusing to believe she was really hurt.
But something was wrong.
Her right knee, proving equally stubborn, refused to hold her up, and she buckled to the floor.
“My leg would just give out,” Jackson said. “It was very, very scary. … It happened two or three times, over and over. … I would sit back down and be like ‘I can walk. This is mental. I can walk.’ And it just wasn’t happening.”
Scans revealed a grade-2 (partial) tear of the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL). The doctor who initially delivered the news said it was season-ending.
Fortunately, a second opinion renewed hope Jackson would recover.
Weeks later, she began playing the best basketball of her life again, notching a career-best 31 points and helping Green County take a seven-game win streak into this week’s 18th District Tournament.
The experience has solidified her career goal to become a physical therapist.
It also has her weighing her options about how she will continue her playing career, including possibly repeating her senior year.
“You know those days when you’re like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to practice, today’?’ Jackson asked, rhetorically. “I don’t have those anymore.”
The injury: diagnosing a PCL tear
Kylie’s father, Green County assistant principal Hunter Jackson, was calling the game against Russell County for the school’s video stream.
His daughter had already scored nine points in the first quarter before driving into the lane and getting her feet swept from under her.
The fall looked rough, her dad said, because Kylie “has no grace when she falls” — never has. After being helped off, she soon returned.
Her second fall startled Dad more. When a player goes down on her own with no one around, he knows it’s seldom a good sign.
“I’m trying to keep it together as much as possible (for the broadcast) … thinking in my head the whole time, ‘Well, that’s it,” Hunter Jackson said.
Checking on her at halftime, Hunter Jackson said his daughter refused to believe it was anything serious, telling her coach she was going to come back in the second half.
“And she can’t even stand,” Hunter Jackson said.
The local hospital’s X-ray proved inconclusive, but the doctor there said he thought it was a PCL injury. The diagnosis led the Jacksons to Bowling Green for an MRI.
The first doctor there came in and delivered the bad news, “and Kylie and my wife lost it,” Hunter Jackson said.
Kylie had told her mom she felt content with her career, whatever happened.
But “when they told me that I was done, I started crying,” Kylie said. “I was not OK.”
Then another doctor entered. It was Dr. Abigail DeBusk, the Western Kentucky University team doctor the Jacksons knew had helped South Laurel’s Ally Collett recover from the same kind of injury last season.
Collett had also been initially told her season was done, but came back to finish her high school career on the court. She’s gone on to play for WKU.
DeBusk told Jackson that with physical therapy and hard work, she could get back in action soon, too.
The road back: PT and a scare
Jackson had already thought she wanted to pursue a career as a physical therapist. After seeing one several times a week, it’s only made her want that more — not just because of how it helped her, but also because of how she saw it help others.
“It helped me realize that I want to have that impact she has on people,” Jackson said of her PT, Baylee Shofner. “She was like, ‘I’m not going to let you go back until I’m positive you’re going to be all right.’ I was just really inspired by her, honestly.”
The recovery went well. Jackson’s knee felt good enough to return to action in just four weeks. The big snowstorm even allowed for a couple of extra days. COVID-19 cancellations and the storm meant Jackson only missed six games.
But Jackson’s confidence in the knee, now with a large brace, remained shaky her first game back. Green County’s losing streak extended to three games.
In the next game, Jackson got tripped up again and fell squarely on her rehabbed knee.
“I had very similar pain to my impact when it tore, and so I was laying on the floor freaking out,” Jackson said. “But as I got up and put more weight on it, I realized I was OK.”
She added a compression sleeve under her brace and asked her coach, Chris Blaydes, to put her back in the game. Blaydes remained skeptical. He asked to see her jog.
She jogged to the scorer’s table.
“He said, ‘Come back here, you’re not going in,’” Jackson recalled.
“‘Yes sir. I am.’” Jackson said she replied, hoping. “He said, ‘OK.’”
The brief scare shook off her nerves — she had taken a hit on the knee and felt fine.
“I’m stronger than I was before, honestly, is what it feels like,” Jackson said.
She scored 15 against Taylor County to start the win streak.
She scored a career high 31 points the next time out against Hart County.
“She’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever had play for me,” Blaydes said. She’s done tremendous since she’s been back. It’s just a testament to her. … With COVID going on and her season being cut short to begin with she had a renewed determination to work hard and get back.”
‘Small victories’: Appreciating now and what could come
In a recent testimony for her church, Jackson tearfully spoke about her injury and recovery and said she discovered the ordeal wasn’t really a test of her faith. It was proof.
“Knowing that countless people were praying hard for me, thinking of me, kept me going when I felt down and defeated,” she said. “I learned to appreciate the small victories while progressing in PT.”
Next, Jackson will help lead the Dragons (12-6) against LaRue County on Wednesday as they begin the 18th District Tournament.
Later, she’ll weigh opportunities to play at Transylvania or Centre or accept a preferred walk-on offer at Bellarmine.
But she’s also tracking the progress of Senate Bill 128 in the Kentucky Legislature, which, if passed, could allow her to return to high school to repeat her senior year due to having lost the real experience because of COVID-19.
Jackson won’t turn 19 until October, making her eligible to compete in the KHSAA again if the state and her school district approve.
“My friends are like, ‘Why would you want to do that?’ but my mom and I were talking about it and she said, ‘Well, you have the rest of your life to work and be an adult,’” Jackson said. “Why not be a kid for one more year and try to soak everything in?
“‘This year has taken so much from you,’” Jackson said her mom added. “And I have to agree with that.”
This story was originally published March 16, 2021 at 7:20 AM.
