M-ette standout Henry playing in Canada

Former M-ette Standout, Courtney Henry graduated from Malta High School in 2013 with quite the resume in athletics. Since her graduation, Henry has been involved in college basketball and track and field. She had previously attended Montana State University in Billings but for the past year Henry has been playing point guard for the Medicine Hat Rattlers in Alberta, Canada. But before this season, Henry had to overcome a severe ligament tear she had sustained in late January of this year.

Henry had been a part of the 2010 State B Champion Malta M-ettes as a freshman while at Malta High School. The team was runner up to Fairfield in her sophomore and junior seasons as well.

Henry also stood out in volleyball, earning MVP honors in the 2B conference in 2012. Henry was the state champion in javelin for track and field in 2012.

She earned all-state and all conference awards in basketball, volleyball and track for three straight years.

She attended MSUB for two years, red-shirting her first year and then playing in her second year.

She was drawn to MSUB by a scholarship offer and by the fact she had friends also attending MSUB.

"I just liked the town," Henry said. "A lot of my friends went there too. It was a good place. Not too far away and not too close. It was kind of a perfect place."

Henry had the chance to play with former M-ette and Malta native Bobby Knudsen in her red-shirt season, but after Knudsen left, Henry again saw herself fighting for playing time.

"Coach Woodin at MSUB, he got a point guard that was the same age as me and he liked her a little better," Henry said. "She was a little taller."

It seemed that Henry was going to play behind another player for her final three seasons at MSUB, until she decided that she wanted to play more than ten minutes a game.

"I really liked my team, so it was a pretty tough decision," Henry said. "I liked everything about Billings and liked everyone there, so it was hard to decide that but I am really with my decision now."

So the search began, with Henry even considering MSU-Northern in Havre.

"I was talking to Coach Mouat from Northern and he couldn't take me because he already had two point guards," Henry said.

But the connection to Coach Mouat would pay off as the longtime MSU-Northern coach was able to connect Henry to Medicine Hat College and the team's former coach Jason McLester. Henry and McLester set up a college visit.

"I had never been to Canada until when I came here for school," Henry said. "I ended up really liking Jason a lot; he is a really cool guy."

She went on saying that she really liked the area and made a decision to make the move to Medicine Hat, which is roughly three-and-a-half hours northwest of Malta.

"For me, it was a completely fresh start," Henry said. "I knew no-one in Medicine Hat, so I thought that was kind of cool and adventurous."

Henry played for half a season under Coach McLester before she had a season-ending Achilles tear in her right leg against SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology) on Saturday, January 30.

"I hesitated, went to push forward and I felt a pop," Henry said. "Honestly I thought someone came behind me to trap me and kicked my heel on accident, but then I fell. It hurt pretty bad."

She saw physical therapists after the incident, to find out that she had completely ruptured her Achilles tendon.

Before the injury, Henry believed that the team was clicking well as the team was in the top half of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference South (ACAC), with her conference consisting of eight teams.

"We actually became a really tight-knit team and that was awesome," Henry said. "We were sitting in third place in our league almost the whole year."

After the injury, Henry would face a long healing process.

"They casted me right away to protect the heel, so I didn't do any other damage," Henry said.

She was due for surgery a few days later, but her heel became saturated in the cast and that postponed her surgery.

"I got the surgery here in Canada," Henry said. "They re-casted it every two weeks and they would point my toe up to stretch the heel out."

The injury progressively got better with her flexibility improving with every visit for eight weeks.

"Then I went into an air-cast for a month and I was still on crutches that whole time," Henry said.

After the month of being in an air-cast, Henry slowly began walking and used a scooter to get around. She started physical therapy in the summer months starting in June.

"He would give me squats and lunges to try and strengthen my calves," Henry said. "I was really antsy."

Though Henry has never had a severe leg injury before this in her sports career, there wasn't a time where she thought she would not come back to basketball.

"In my mind, I knew I was going to be playing again," Henry said. "I don't care what it's going to (take)."

Henry went on to say that an injury of the magnitude that she suffered would typically take eight to twelve months before an athlete could do strenuous exercise.

"Realistically, I shouldn't be playing until around the end of this month but I've been playing since September, so that's been nice," Henry said.

Henry admits that she doesn't have full confidence in her leg yet.

"It depends on the day," Henry said. "It's been tough. The beginning of the season has been pretty hard because I don't think I'm 100 percent yet. It's definitely a mental process and something you have to work to get over."

Though Henry isn't 100 percent better, she has averaged 17 minutes per game for the 3-4 Rattlers this season in their first seven games as of Saturday, November 26.