Despite a season-ending injury, Penn State Lady Lions’ guard Kelly Jekot continues to impact team
Makenna Marisa was grocery shopping at Giant after a Penn State Lady Lions practice last week when the sophomore guard received the text that confirmed her suspicion.
The message was from graduate guard Kelly Jekot, who had gone down with an injury during a team workout earlier that day. Jekot — the 4-6 Lady Lions’ leading scorer, second-leading rebounder and key veteran presence — was out for the season.
“I feel like we kind of had a feeling,” Marisa told the Centre Daily Times, “but (we were) hoping for the best, praying for the best.”
Now, Penn State, which has lost six of its last seven games, must find a way to replace the production that it got on a consistent basis from the star 6-foot guard. This was the first season Jekot — who had averaged 15.9 points and 6.8 rebounds per game this season — was eligible to play since transferring from Villanova last January, but now her campaign has come to an abrupt end.
Second-year head coach Carolyn Kieger first publicly announced the news of Jekot’s undisclosed injury after Penn State’s loss to Northwestern on Sunday.
“Kelly has such a high IQ and shares the ball really well,” Kieger said. “We’re one of the youngest teams in the country. So when you lose that experience and lose that vet, it’s going to hurt until we have time to regroup and figure it out.”
Though it’s no small task to fill Jekot’s shoes, Kieger said it will be a “by committee” approach to do so.
“There’s no true positions in Coach Kieger’s offense,” senior forward Johnasia Cash, the Lady Lions’ third-leading scorer at 12.3 points per game, told the CDT. “So I feel like anybody can step right in and take the position if they want to.”
Despite not being able to play anymore this season, Jekot chose to stay with her teammates and be involved as much as she can from the sidelines instead of returning to her family’s Enola home. Lady Lions players gained an even greater respect for her because of this decision.
And, while she can’t compete, Jekot has continued to provide the same off-court leadership she always has for the group.
“She’s there every single day, encouraging us, uplifting us, making sure she’s still giving us that same feedback so that we can grow as a team and get better,” Cash said. “... She always makes sure that everyone’s doing well, everybody’s taken care of. And I feel like she’s still doing that, even though she can’t be on the floor.”
Even during the Northwestern game — the first contest Jekot missed — Marisa and other players leaned on Jekot’s experience.
Throughout the game, Marisa, Penn State’s second-leading scorer with 13.1 points per game, asked Jekot what she was seeing from her vantage point and what could be improved. Jekot, as she’s been from the time she arrived at Penn State, was the calming presence her teammates needed her to be, even in a loss.
As Jekot looks to rehab and return to form with the option to return next year — because of an NCAA ruling in response to the coronavirus pandemic — she’s kept an optimistic outlook.
“She’s always going to stay positive — that’s who she is — and continue to give all of us positive feedback and help in whatever way she can,” Marisa said. “Like I said, that’s just who she is.”
So, when Marisa was hit with the tough news through text last week, she was obviously upset, but she kept her head up.
Sure, Jekot wouldn’t be playing in games. But Marisa and her teammates knew they weren’t losing her entirely.
“The fact that she stuck around, it just showed me even more who Kelly Jekot is,” Cash said. “She wants to win; she wants to lead. And she loves and values her team, and she loves and values this program.”
This story was originally published January 21, 2021 at 5:54 PM.
