"I think I cried more than she did," Michelle said. "Basketball has been her whole life. She's a team-sport player. She loves the camaraderie, the friendships. It was her social life and it all came to a screeching halt."
Kaufusi - who despite being just a junior at Timpview, committed in October to play at Brigham Young University - injured her knee more seriously than she thought.
She landed funny in a pick-up basketball game over the summer, but she got up and started playing on her left knee again. She didn't know she had torn her anterior cruciate ligament, ruptured her medical collateral ligament and partially torn her meniscus.
She didn't know until she woke up the next morning, looked down at her knee and saw that it had swelled to about the size of her head.
"They sat me down and said straight out, I wouldn't be playing," Kaufusi said. "I started crying, and I don't cry a lot. It was weird to cry, but I dealt with it."
Kaufusi was optimistic. She had hopes she would recover in record time and be back on the court before her junior season was over.
"She's very aggressive and positive. From Day 1, she hardly even blinked," Kimball said. "She knew she was hurt, but she was very confident. In her own mind, she knew she would recover."
But those aspirations came crashing down after she went to her first physical therapy session a couple days after her Sept. 5 surgery. Five days a week, Kaufusi tried to bend her knee and lift her leg.
"That was one of her hardest days. She wanted to be the poster child of coming back in record time. It just hit her how much damage was done," said Michelle, who takes Kaufusi to every appointment and goes with her to every rehab session. "It was going to be a long haul."
Kaufusi has gained some strength back in her knee and even went to Timpview's first basketball practice. But soon, she got the same feeling she had in Dr. Kimball's office. She left the gym before anybody saw her cry.
"The first game was actually harder," Kaufusi said. "I thought I was over the fact that I wasn't playing, but it was hard hearing the starting lineup and not hearing my name," said Kaufusi, who has started since she was a freshman. "I'm doing a lot better, though. I go to practice and I can do stuff they can. I just can't run."
Kaufusi's rehab sessions have been cut down to three days a week and she's participating at practices regularly. She's hoping to be back on the court by June or July.
Until then, Kaufusi is trying to better deal with watching Timpview struggle without her. The T-birds are 5-7.
Her mother can't wait until she gets back on the court, either. She'll probably start tearing up when it happens.
"I'm the biggest crybaby. It's a no-brainer. I so look forward to watching her play again," Michelle said. "Some players, you see frustration and fatigue. With her, you see a sparkle in her eye. She loves the game."
mthach@sltrib.com
Kaufusi file
* Junior Alexis Kaufusi was an all-state selection for Timpview last year, averaging about 17 points.
* Kaufusi is out for the season after tearing her anterior cruciate ligament over the summer.
* Kaufusi committed in October to play for Brigham Young University.
