Less than a month ago, Purdue's KK Houser suffered what seemed like a season-ending ACL injury.
Yet Houser made a triumphant return in Purdue's 82-66 win over Nebraska on senior night this past Sunday, as described at SB Nation's Purdue site Hammer and Rails.
Most assumed KK Houser had played her last game on Keady Court after she tore her ACL in East Lansing against Michigan State a month ago. Fortunately for KK she would play for the fans in Mackey one more time. KK came out and went through warm-ups and started the game Sunday alongside April Wilson, Liza Clemons and fellow seniors Dee Dee Williams and Courtney Moses. KK played the first 2:34. While KK was a bit of a defensive liability Purdue had a 2-0 lead when she checked out...KK Houser entered the game briefly at end before returning to the bench amid a standing ovation. In those last minutes she was able to pull down two rebounds.
Mike Carmin of the Journal & Courier previously reported that Houser had "done well" in rehab, but getting back to the point of playing in senior night wasn't expected.
Carmin added in that article that Houser would like to play in the WNBA, but that might be a bit more difficult feat: at 5-foot-6, she was neither an efficient distributor nor scorer in her senior season, which stacks the odds against her even before accounting for anything she might lose as a result of her injury.
Yet regardless of what the future holds, Houser's return to the court might rank as one of the better moments of the "senior day" season.
For more on the game and the upcoming Big Ten tournament, check out the recap of Purdue's senior day win at SB Nation's Purdue site Hammer and Rails. For more on WNBA prospects, check out our 2014 WNBA Draft prospect watch storystream.