Iowa
Iowa recruit Ava Jones not expected to play basketball again after suffering serious injury after getting hit by vehicle
Ava Jones’ basketball profession is sort of actually over.
Jones, the Iowa recruit who survived a automotive crash along with her household in Louisville earlier this summer time, tore all 4 ligaments in each of her knees, Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder stated Thursday, by way of The Cedar Rapids Gazette.
“All of us had a troublesome day yesterday,” Bluder stated, by way of The Gazette. “I doubt she is going to ever play basketball once more.”
Jones, her youthful brother and their two mother and father had been hit by a automotive on July 5 whereas they had been strolling in downtown Louisville, the place they had been for an AAU event. A automotive left the street and struck them on the sidewalk, killing Jones’ dad, Trey, and leaving her mother, Amy, in critical situation. Her brother sustained minor accidents.
The motive force of the automotive, a 33-year-old man, reportedly informed police that he took hydrocodone earlier than driving that evening and that he was “so drained that he couldn’t make the flip.”
Jones was thought of “critical however steady” on the time. Now, Bluder discovered, she had torn all 4 ligaments in every of her knees.
“I can’t imagine she was strolling,” Bluder stated, by way of The Gazette. “The physician stated, ‘I’ve by no means seen an individual are available right here with 4 torn ligaments in a knee and never be crying.’”
Jones had initially decommitted from Arizona State and dedicated to the Hawkeyes days earlier than the incident. She averaged 20.8 factors and 15.4 rebounds per sport final season at Nickerson Excessive College in Kansas, and was listed as ESPN’s No. 83 recruit within the class of 2023.
Although she nonetheless has a protracted restoration forward of her, Iowa has dedicated to honoring her preliminary scholarship no matter whether or not she ever fits up for the Hawkeyes.
“She’s nonetheless someone that we’re going to have as part of our program as a result of we imagine in her,” Bluder stated, by way of The Gazette. “She dedicated to us, and simply because she had one thing dangerous occur to her doesn’t suggest that we flip our again on her. We’ll be there for her and her household as a lot as we will.”
