INDIANAPOLIS – It’s taken four years for Devereaux Peters to get one full season. When she finally got the chance, she made it count.
A 76-70 loss to Texas A&M in the national title game was not the way she would have liked the season to end, especially because her journey to that point was never easy.
Peters’ suffered a female athlete’s worst injury — a torn ACL — not once, but twice. She first went down in the 23rd game of her freshman year. She was averaging nine points per game before the injury.
After a summer of rehab, she was back on the court for the start of her sophomore season. She scored 22 total points in the first three games. Then she blew out her knee again.
With two crippling knee injuries, Peters had to decide if she could emotionally and physically work her way back to a collegiate career.
“You really focus on why you’re coming back and why you enjoy it,” Peters said. “At the same time, you’ve been there before. You have to take that stand … I know what I have to do to get back, and you just have to do it.”
She struggled through another round of rehab to make it back for a partial season. She played 25 games last year, averaged 6.7 points per game, and Peters’ future was unknown.
She, like Notre Dame throughout this season, was an underdog.
All of Peters’ hard work paid off in 2011. She averaged 11.8 points per game, played in every game, led her team in blocks and rebounds and started in the National Championship game.
She was finally playing the way Irish coach Muffet McGraw expected when she recruited her.
“She’s elevated our team to a different level,” McGraw said. “With her ability to rebound and block shots and run the floor, she’s the most athletic player I think we’ve ever had.”
McGraw had the confidence that she could rebound with anyone in the country, and, on Tuesday night, Peters had the chance to prove it.
The Aggies’ defensive pressure on star Notre Dame guard Skylar Diggins hurt her effectiveness, and someone else had to step up. Peters was there, like she has been her whole career, to fill in where needed.
Her relentless energy on the glass helped her team bring intensity back to the court after an early 13-point deficit.
Peters finished with a game-high 11 rebounds to go along with 21 points. On a night Diggins struggled with her shot, Peters picked up the slack shooting 80 percent from the floor, the third highest percentage in women’s national championship game history.
“She did a nice job on the boards. she was effective around the basket, she rebounded well,” McGraw said of Peters. “Overall, I think it’s kind of a nice momentum builder going into next year.”
And luckily for the Irish, there will indeed be a next year for their senior. Due to her extensive time out due to injuries, Peters said she was granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA.
“Absolutely I’m coming back,” Peters said. “I already told the coaches. I think they would fight me if I changed my mind.”
If she can stay healthy her days — as well as her team’s days — as an underdog might be numbered.
But that doesn’t matter to a player who has been at the bottom of the hill so many times in such a short career. For her, the challenge is still getting to the top.
“It’s fun if no one believes in it but you,” Peters said. “That’s really all you need is to believe in yourself, and clearly that’s all you need to get here.”
Belief on its own was not enough Tuesday, though. Peters and her team will have to wait to complete their story.