Basketball: Fearless guard carries team to finish line (03-12-07)
Knee pain aside, Hardesty sparks Clarke's effort -- By Michael Petre (Daily Staff Writer)
RICHMOND — The adrenaline rush of success on the state's grandest stage still coursing through her, Leslie Hardesty managed to shake off the lingering effects of a supremely physical effort.
Clarke County's senior point guard and co-captain, whose 15 points Saturday helped spark the Eagles to the Group A state championship, wasn't numb from happiness — or from pain-killers, for that matter.
"My head is killing me," she said about an hour after the Eagles' victory against previously undefeated Floyd County. "But it was worth it."
Hardesty flung her body all over the court against the Buffaloes, showing no fear when she rightfully had reason for concern. Sporting her conventional black brace on her left knee — the byproduct of June surgery to repair her anterior cruciate ligament — Hardesty was still learning to trust her body again.
It didn't let her down.
"I guess I could have played a lot of games like this, but I kind of realized this was it and I have nothing left to give," she said. "Up until the regional tournament, I had been scared to take charges because of my knee."
In that tournament, Hardesty's confidence blossomed.
"I took my first [charge] and I was like, 'That feels kind of good, to get back and be a blue-collar player again,'" she laughed. "I realized this was it and I took one for the team."
More than one, actually. In a pair of second-half collisions, Hardesty stepped in front of a charging Floyd County player and was punished to the Siegel Center floor, banging her head on the court in the process. After the second crash of bodies — for which Hardesty was assessed a foul, somehow worsening the blow — coach Tim Lawrence briefly pulled her from the game.
That didn't last long. She was back on the court just 48 seconds later and stayed there until the game's final seconds. As the horn sounded to confirm Clarke County's championship, Hardesty was the first — but not the last — to wrap her coach in an emotional embrace.
"He said something like, 'This is what we worked for,'" she recalled. "If he wouldn't have come to the program, I don't think we could have made it this far. He always tells me in reply, 'You brought us here. You're our point guard and our captain; you brought us here.'
"This is what I worked for, and it feels good."
The always-emotional Lawrence praised his point guard's effort, which yielded five assists — to three turnovers — and three rebounds.
"This was the best game she's ever played," he said. "For her to come up like she did in the state championship game is fitting to the type of character she possesses."
Hardesty deflected such specific acclaim but acknowledged the physical toll Saturday's championship took on her still-recovering body.
"I do feel like I played my heart out and I played the best I could have played," she said. "I feel like everybody's effort combined was the reason we won that game. Everybody left their hearts out on the floor.
