Photos by GreatNews.Life
Many may know that the Crown Point Girls Basketball team just won the 4A State Championship, but what they may not know is the journey that Alyna Santiago went through to help earn the Lady Bulldogs their first title in 36 years.
Santiago, a DAC all-conference selection, had to work back from a torn ACL injury that occurred last season. She talked about the play that caused the injury and how it all happened within seconds.
“I was going for the steal in a dribble handoff, and my knees collided with the girl’s knees who I was trying to steal the ball from. We collided in a bad place, and I fell to the ground in severe pain,” said Santiago.
Santiago’s drive to play the game she loved made her wish and hope that the injury was not serious. She did not even realize that she had torn her ACL until five days after the collision when she got an MRI.
“Once I started to realize how serious the injury actually was, I thought about the long recovery process that was ahead of me,” said Santiago. “There were so many things I did not know about at that point like where I was going to go to rehab and how long it would take.”
After being ruled out for the rest of last season, Santiago had to develop more of a player-coach mentality, which helped her to stay connected to her teammates and the game.
“I had to act like I was on the court by using my voice, which was done by communicating plays and scouting reports to my fellow teammates. This really helped me to develop my leadership skills since I was learning more about the other side of the game.”
Santiago made great strides in her first month of physical therapy, but when the pandemic hit she was forced to exercise from her home. She had to look up videos on how to continue improving her strength so that her progress would not halt.
“For the first month of quarantine, I had to do physical therapy from home, which was pretty difficult,” said Santiago. “Through videos sent from my physical therapist, I was able to continue my recovery progress.”
After seven months of staying the course, Santiago was cleared by her doctors to begin playing one-on-one again. It seemed as if she had never left the court. However, she knew that there were certain precautions she had to take post-injury.
“Everyone would tell me that my play looked the exact same even after my injury. Now, I know I cannot do some of the crazy plays I did before I got hurt. However, I feel as though I am actually pushing myself hard by being smarter in what I accomplish.”
Winning the state title was always a team goal, but it became even more of a personal goal for Santiago. She knew what it had felt like to sit by and watch her team lose, so she wanted to make her impact count when she got back onto the court.
“I was fired up with the possibility of getting our team to the state finals, so I was doing whatever I could to get us there.”
Through hard work and perseverance, the Lady Bulldogs reached the state finals, and Santiago was able to accomplish the goal that had been set since Coach Chris Seibert arrived in Crown Point. Even though she has reached her own mountain top when it comes to her goals, she finds it important to lead by example.
“I wanted to show the young girls in Crown Point that you can win something big like a state championship if you put in the time and effort,” said Santiago. “This shows them that you can attain your dreams if you put in the hard work.”
This attitude and determination to succeed are how Santiago will continue to be a great role model for not only the City of Crown Point but all of Northwest Indiana.
She will remain in the area to pursue a degree at Indiana University Northwest while she plays for the university’s women’s basketball team.
“Being able to stay home and play basketball is great because it allows everyone who supported me along the way to see my continued success.”
Whether it is on the court or in the classroom, Santiago continues to show what can happen when you do not give up on your dreams.