At this point, America knows that Tyra Buss is one heck of a scorer. What the collective American public may not have known is just how tough the Mount Carmel (Ill.) High junior star can be.
As reported by the Daily Republican Register, Buss separated her shoulder during the first half of Mount Carmel’s Class 2A girls basketball sectional semifinal against Sullivan (Ill.) High. At the time, Buss had scored just 10 points, and she clearly knew that if her team was going to emerge victorious it would need more out of her.
So, Buss did what winners with an abundance of guts and determination do: She popped the shoulder back into place on her own, then came out in the second half and scored another 30 points to lead Mount Carmel to the Sectional finals.
By game’s end, the Indiana recruit was the contest’s leading scorer, as always. She had contributed more than half of Mount Carmel’s 72 points in a 72-56 victory, and she scored 75 percent of those points after suffering her left shoulder injury.
If that isn’t toughness, Prep Rally doesn’t know what is.
According to Buss’ father, Tyra Buss was in pain while scoring buckets in the third quarter, but it became less acute as the game went on, and the family is hopeful that preventative measures since the injury would minimize its longer implications as the season moves forward.
“It seemed to get better as the game progressed,” Tim Buss told MaxPreps. “Tyra has been icing her shoulder since the injury. Today will see how much she has progressed."
That’s good news for Mt. Carmel, which could hardly even picture girls basketball success without its apparently indestructible scoring machine.
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