BRILLIANCE CUT SHORT

Jacy Thompson knows what a knee injury feels like when it happens. After all, she's had four knee surgeries since she was in eighth grade. So she felt a pain in her knee in a Frontier Conference game last month she knew what had likely just happened, and she knew, she was in for more pain.

At the time however, what she didn't know was, the injury would be the end to her incredible basketball career, a career that's spanned a decade, and brought her from Class B high school stardom at Townsend to be one of the most dynamic and complete players the Montana State University-Northern Skylights have ever had.

Last week, Thompson got the somber news that she had once again tore an ACL, her third torn ACL of her basketball career. The injury forced Thompson, a former NAIA All-American and Frontier Conference Defensive Player of the Year, to retire with just over a month remaining in her senior season with the Skylights.

And as expected, the news was devastating for her, and for the Skylights.

"I was prepared to hear that I wasn't going to be able to play anymore," Thompson said last Wednesday. "But I was shocked when I found out it was a complete ACL tear again. I think the most disappointing thing for me, is that I won't be able to compete at this level, in this atmosphere, anymore. I'm used to the pain, the surgeries, and rehabbing. But knowing I won't be able to play at this level, with this team anymore, that's the hardest part.

"You saw the impact that Jacy has had on our program, and this team when this happened," added head coach Chris Mouat. "There wasn't a dry eye in the room when we broke the news to the team. It was to the point where, we just decided not to practice that day. We were all just so heartbroken for her. That's the respect she has from all of us, and it shows the impact that she's had on this program."

The impacts have indeed been significant.

Thompson's career has been one of the highest successes, both individually, and as part of a Skylight dynasty. She started as a freshman for the Skylights, even overcoming a knee injury that season to go all the way to the NAIA national tournament. As a sophomore, she averaged double figures on the offensive end of the floor, while earning Frontier Conference Defensive MVP honors, All-Conference honors, and NAIA All-American honors. In her junior season, she was a driving force for the Skylights making a fourth straight trip to the national tourney, reaching the Sweet 16, as well playing in the Frontier championship game for the second time in her career. She's in the Northern 1,000 point club, and the list of achievements goes on.

"It's hard to find many that have done it better than Jacy has in her time here," Mouat said. "She's one of the best competitors I've ever had. Much of her career, she's done it one healthy leg too.

"When this happened, I told her, she's done it all," he continued. "She has nothing left to prove. She's been all-conference, defensive player of the year, all-American, she's the best position defender I've coached in my 13 years here, and so much more. Her numbers are up there on the all-time lists in this program, and she's been a leader, a competitor, she's set a great example for everyone around her with her skills, her leadership, and especially her toughness. She's done it all the right way. She's one of the best players we've ever had here. So she can be at peace with that."

Thompson agrees that, when she reflects on her career, she has become what every young basketball player dreams of, being a successful college basketball player, at the highest level.

But it was the abrupt end to her career, and the prospect of facing yet another surgery which will take some time to get past. That part, with things like senior night, and the Frontier Conference tournament still looming, won't be easy.

"I wanted to do more," Thompson said. "I felt like I still had things I wanted to accomplish this season. But I feel lucky I lasted this long. As I reflect on this experience, I'm very proud of what I've been able to do given the hand I was dealt. The places basketball has taken me, the experiences I've had here (Northern), I'm very lucky. So I have to accept what's happened and just know that I left it all out on the court. I did everything I could do to play."

And there's no doubt, Thompson did do a lot with what has seemed like an unfair amount of injuries. She first tore an ACL in eighth grade, and again as a junior playing for the Townsend Bulldogs. She also had a meniscus tear her senior season of high school, and again as a freshman for the Skylights. She's had four total surgeries, and is facing a fifth one later this year. And she admits, this next surgery will be a little different, because basketball won't be the reason to wake up every morning and rehab.

"I'll have to find different ways to motivate myself," said Thompson, whose older sister Jessica also played at Northern and was on the rodeo team at MSU-N. "Motivation this time will be a challenge for me. So I'll have to set goals outside of basketball, and look for new challenges."

Given how driven and competitive Thompson is, she'll find that motivation. She's done it before. She's done it so many times, and through all of it, the surgeries, the rehabs, the hard work, and the tough times, more tough times than most basketball players go through, Thompson has put together a remarkable career.

She has scored 1,183 points at MSU-N, averaging 11.1 ppg for her four years. She's made 157 3-pointers, has 309 rebounds, dished out 209 assists and has the second-highest scoring game in Northern history when she scored 39 points in a game her sophomore season. She's done all that while also being one of the greatest man-to-man defenders Northern and the Frontier Conference has ever seen.

And this season, her last in a Skylight uniform, she was putting together perhaps her best year yet.

"Across the board, her averages were better than she's ever been," Mouat said. "She was doing amazing things this season, so it's really tough to see it end this way. I just really feel for her. She's been so important to me. I'll never forget the day she told me she was signing with us. That was a huge moment for me and for this program. And she's given her guts to me and this program from day one. I'll forever be thankful she chose to come here."

Thankful is something Thompson is, too. While her individual accolades are certainly impressive, when she reflects on her days as a Skylight, she is no doubt proud of what she's accomplished as a basketball player, but, her fondest memories are those that true leaders and great teammates often have, the memories that have more to do with the name on the front of the jersey and less to do with the one on the back.

"I think the things I cherish the most are the successes we've had together," Thompson said. "Going to those national tournaments, playing in those two conference championship games, especially the one at Westminster. I'll never forget that game. We have had really great teams in my time here, I've had so many great experiences, and got to be a part of so many great games, and then the people I've met, to play for Coach Mouat, to make so many great friends, it's really been a life-changing experience. I'm so thankful I've been here, because I've had so much great support from my teammates and friends here. This team has a really special bond, and it's one I'll have with them for life.

"And it's all been worth it," she agreed. "If I could go back, and have to go through all the injuries and the surgeries, and the pain I've had, I would do it all over again. Because this experience has been that special to me."

Thompson has been special to Northern too, in countless ways. Her impact across the Skylight program has been as far-reaching as any player who has stepped foot in the Armory Gymnasium. From her teammates, to coaches and players around the Frontier Conference, to Skylight fans of all ages, she's simply meant so much to Northern women's basketball, and Mouat says, it's evident in the reactions since her retirement was announced.

"The impact she's had on me, on her teammates, and our program the last four years has been huge," Mouat said. "But you also saw just how much respect and admiration everybody has for Jacy when the news broke that she wasn't going to be able to keep playing. Obviously, we were all devastated for her, but to see coaches and players around our league reach out to her through letters and emails and text messages, that just says so much about her. When your opponents show that kind of respect, it just shows, not only what a tremendous basketball player she is on the floor, but that she's an even better person off the floor. We've always known that about Jacy, but you see just how much everybody else thinks of her too, and that's something she can take with her for the rest of her life."

No question, Thompson's injury was devastating news to all who know her, from her family, best friends and teammates, Mouat and coaches and players who played against her, they all feel for Thompson's incredible career being over too soon.

And while Thompson feels that pain too, there is a perspective, there's life things that are allowing her to see the bigger picture as she faces a fifth knee surgery, more rehabilitation, and more pain.

Thompson's mother, Denise, was diagnosed with breast cancer near the start of the 2017-18 season, while her father, Vince, has had an ongoing bout with health issues as well. So, Thompson, being ever the leader, ever the consummate teammate, while going through pain of her own, is able to put things in perspective as her family battles things that are much bigger than the game of basketball.

"It's been a rough senior year, it definitely hasn't gone the way I wanted," Thompson said. "But, anytime I was in pain, even when I found out about my injury, I think about my mom and the pain she is going through right now, I think about my dad and the health problems he's had. He's had 15 surgeries on his pancreas. I think about my family and how they're my source of strength, and so it has been hard to be away from them through all of this.

"When I told my mom about my ACL, she was pretty emotional about it," Thompson continued. "But I told her, it could be worse. She kind of laughed and said how? And I just told her, I could not be able to walk again or something like that. Knowing the pain she's going through right now, it does put things in perspective, and I've had the mindset that, I've had it really good, even with all the pain and surgeries I've had, I've felt lucky to have the experiences I've had and been able to do the things I've been able to do. I've always thought that, there's worse things than what I've gone through."

And Thompson will go on and do amazing things after basketball. She will graduate from Northern this spring, and she will be an amazing source of strength as her family faces tough challenges ahead. Just as she's been an amazing source of strength for the Northern basketball program the last four years.

The example Thompson has set, and continues to set, will be one of inspiration. Many athletes throw in the towel when adversity comes. Many athletes move on when their body won't do what they need it to do. For years, Jacy Thompson didn't do that. Instead, she fought back, she came back, she rose above any and all obstacles in her way. And while she won't be able to do that this time around, she can leave the Armory Gymnasium knowing that, she not only did it more times than she should have had too, but, that she set an example for the rest of us, and, with the challenges that lie ahead for her family, she continues to set examples for all of us that, we should not only follow, but never forget.

"The last game I played was at Western," Thompson said. "I was still playing at the level I wanted to play it. So while I wasn't ready to be done, and I wanted to finish what I started, I can always look back at that game, and know that that was the last game for me, and know that I was playing at the level I was capable of playing at.

"And while I do feel like all of this got cut short," she continued. "I can take comfort in knowing that I did everything I could to be out there, to be with my team and play at the level I was capable of playing at. I did everything I could, to the best of my ability, and I gave everything I had. I'm proud of that, and knowing that, I won't have any regrets."

Indeed, Thompson has no need to have regret or doubt. Her career, and all she's overcome speaks for itself. The legacy she leaves at Northern will be ever-lasting, on and off the basketball court.

And while it is unfair that her brilliant career got cut short, it's like Mouat said: Jacy Thompson has nothing left to prove. Jacy Thompson has done it all. She's given everything of herself to Skylight basketball. And, because of the great player, and person Jacy Thompson is, we should all consider ourselves lucky that we were there to see it.