Triggs endures pain to get to senior season at George Mason

Putting one’s bell where one’s mouth is ….

December 19, 2018

Christmas time Q&A

December 19, 2018

Thibodaux High School graduate Jewel Triggs went through a lot of adversity at the prep level to earn her scholarship at George Mason University.

In her time at the next level, very little has changed, though she’s not often opened up about her grind.

Triggs shared some of what she’s had to deal with at the next level with The Times this week — an untold story of injury, extensive rehab/recovery and the eventual triumph of continuing to play for four seasons through the pain.

Triggs said in her senior season, her focus is on being a leader and doing whatever her teammates need to win. So far this year, she’s done exactly that, helping lead the team to a strong start in the non-conference slate.

“I have been focusing on leadership and staying positive,” Triggs said. “I think it’s important as a leader to have someone like that on the team — especially for the younger players. I am focused on doing what I can to help my team — whether it’s to score, make clutch free throws, get rebounds or get assists.”

Triggs’ senior season is off to a strong start. As a key reserve for the Lady Patriots, she averages 2.3 points and 3.1 rebounds per game in 11.3 minutes per game — often doing intangible things to help the team win.

But what many do not realize is the world of pain that Triggs has had to endure and triumph to get to this point.

As a freshman, Triggs played in all 31 games and started four for the Lady Pats. She averaged 3.0 points and 1.2 rebounds per game.

But Triggs was never pain-free during the year, despite the success. She said her knees ached and limited her mobility. She did treatment and rehab during the season, but a trip to the doctor after the season provided bad news.

Both of her patellar tendons — one in each knee — were torn.

Instead of using the offseason to get bigger, faster and stronger like her teammates, Triggs was busy getting surgery in an effort to rebuild and get back on the floor.

She was unable to bend her knees for several weeks after the operation and had to spend countless hours with both knees in a machine designed to return the range of motion to both limbs.

Rehab and recovery was a six-month process and it occupied all of the summer and into the start of the school year before the 2016-17 season. Triggs flirted with the idea of just redshirting and sitting out the entire upcoming season. But the Lady Patriots said they needed Triggs on the floor, so she pushed forward.

Triggs played in 2016-17, but wasn’t her usual self, averaging 1.2 points and 5.2 minutes per game of action.

“It was difficult trying to come back to the court because when you think of not being able to jog, run, jump or anything for six whole months — that’s tough,” Triggs said. “I was very hesitant to try to jump while shooting and do layups, but it eventually came back. The season finally came, but I ended up not really playing much. I can honestly say I don’t think I was back to 100 percent and I guess my coach didn’t think so either.”

After the sophomore season, Triggs said her focus was on getting stronger and fully shaking the surgery.

But during that summer, adversity found her again. She said she ran on a track to get in better condition, but doing that caused a new ailment.

“I ended up getting really bad shin splints,” Triggs said. I sat out a couple of weeks because they wanted my pain to die down, but it never really got better.”

Triggs was available to the Lady Patriots in 2017-18 as a junior, but she said she was never really herself. She played 15 games and averaged 4.3 minutes per game.

“I always just pushed through my pain and did what I could to help my team — even though sometimes it wasn’t easy to do that.”

The operations and shin splints and two disappointing, pain-filled seasons set the stage for this year — Triggs’ senior season.

Triggs said she had a good offseason and the pain she’s felt for most of her collegiate career has started to fade.

So far, so good, Triggs has been able to take a larger role for her team.

At press-time, Triggs is a top reserve for a George Mason team that’s 6-4 at press-time.

The Thibodaux High School graduate said the Lady Patriots have played strong in 2018-19, but still have room to improve before conference.

“I think we have good chemistry, but need to apply it better in the games,” she said.

Triggs said her time in college has flown by, adding that it feels like just yesterday that she was playing in the purple and gold at the high school level.

She said she will graduate in May and she has hopes of finishing her senior season strong in an effort to play professional basketball around the world.