SELINSGROVE, Pa. — Three-time MAC Commonwealth All-Star women’s basketball center and four-time conference track and field jumping champion Karyn Kern (Brodheadsville/Pleasant Valley H.S.) is planning to use an NCAA hardship waiver as a result of a season-ending knee injury and return for a fifth year of eligibility at Susquehanna University. Kern suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and some cartilage damage to her right knee in the fifth game of this past basketball season, her senior year, forcing her to undergo reconstructive knee surgery and miss the remainder of the year.
She will graduate with her class this spring with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, but plans to return and pursue a second bachelor’s degree in corporate communications. The NCAA hardship waiver for this past season will grant her the additional year of eligibility.
The only thing that could change her plans is if she is unable to make a full recovery from the injury and return at the same athletic level as she was at when she went down. She won’t know that until she is cleared to start playing basketball again sometime this summer. At present, Kern is on schedule with her rehabilitation — already able to run straight ahead with the aid of a knee brace, and do some strength training in the weight room.
“I just need to make sure (that she can come back and make a full recovery). With this type of an injury, I’m not going to know if I’m going to be able to come back at 100 percent until I’m actually able to run up and down the floor, and jump and everything I was able to do before I got hurt,” said Kern. “Until I’m able to do that again (actually play basketball), it’s kind of hard to tell right now that I’m going to be able to play at 100 percent again — both physically and mentally. Part of this is just getting over it (the injury) mentally when I get back on the floor and come to my first jump-stop, and how I’m going to be able to react.”
The 6-2 Kern posted five double-doubles in as many games prior to the injury last season — giving her 42 in her Susquehanna career. Prior to the ill-fated game, she was averaging a remarkable 29.3 points and 14.0 rebounds per game — earning Most Valuable Player honors at both the Susquehanna Varsity Club Tournament and the Rochester Chuck Resler Invitational. She had 14 points and 10 rebounds in just 16 minutes of the game vs. Messiah on November 30 when she suffered the injury. Her final numbers for the year were 26.2 points, 13.2 rebounds, 2.8 steals, 1.8 assists and 1.6 blocks per game, shooting 64.5 percent from the field (49 of 76) and 78.6 percent from the foul line (33 of 42).
A Preseason All-American last season who was a first-team MAC Commonwealth All-Star as a junior, she led NCAA Division III in field goal percentage that season with a MAC record 65.0 percent (169 of 260). She is fifth on the program’s career scoring list with 1,358 points, and fourth in career rebounds with 796. Kern is on pace to both surpass Megan Lytle (1991-95) as the program’s career rebounding leader (Record: 996, 1991-95), and become the first 1,000-point scorer, and 1,000-rebounder in school history. She accomplished that feat at Pleasant Valley High School, scoring 1,360 points while grabbing 1,099 as she finished first in scoring and second in rebounding at the school.
“It was very difficult (the decision). It wasn’t so much having to decide whether or not I wanted to play next year, it was having to decide if it was right for me. In my heart, I wanted to play all along because I knew the potential we have as a team for next year. It was a very hard decision to make — just to make sure it was the right decision for me,” said Kern.
“It’s (Kern’s planned return) great. It’s the best news we’ve had since I don’t know what. She’s a real competitive kid and I think that’s probably part of it. She wants to come back and feels like she has some unfinished business to take care of. She can certainly do it and
take us back to another level again ,” said Susquehanna head women’s basketball coach Mark Hribar, who completed his 13th year last season — guiding the team to 12-straight winning seasons. Hribar had directed his teams to 10-straight MAC playoff berths, seeing that end with last season’s 13-11 squad — but only after it suffered back-to-back losses at the buzzer to end the season. The team started at 5-0 for the first time since 1994 before the Kern injury.
In addition to Kern, one of Hribar’s top recruits also suffered a season-ending knee injury as freshman point guard Shannon Baker (Greensburg/Greensburg Central Catholic H.S.) sustained her torn ACL in the team’s intrasquad scrimmage. Baker is also on schedule to make a full recovery and plans to play next season.
Kern won the MAC outdoor triple jump championship for the third-straight year in 1999 with a jump of 35-9. She also finished second in the long jump for the second time in her career, coming within the final jump of repeating as champion with a leap of 16-7 1/2. She also finished third at MACs in the high jump with the team’s season best leap at 5-1.
She had hoped to make it to nationals in track and field this season. She had career best efforts of 35-11 (1997) in the triple jump, and 16-11 (1997) in the long.
A five-time selection to the MAC All-Academic teams, earning honors three times in the winter and twice in the spring, Kern is presently a psychology major with a speech communications minor. She is the daughter of Carol and Peter Kern.
