Lake Zurich’s Avery Cooper seemed to be on the fast track early in her sophomore season.

Cooper already had four college offers and interest from several Division I programs. Then she suffered a torn ACL in her right knee during a game on Jan. 16.

“At first, I was definitely worried about college,” she said. “I knew it was a common injury and a lot of people bounce back from it. All the college coaches I had been talking to didn’t seem to care I was injured. They were super kind to me and not worried about it.”

Cooper was sidelined for nine months, and her long road back to full strength continues. The 6-foot-2 junior guard/forward was cleared for full-speed practices in mid-November and made her season debut for the Bears (5-6) on Nov. 28. She has come off the bench in the past seven games.

“She’s still a little frustrated because she can’t quite do what she wants to do, but you can see glimpses,” Lake Zurich coach Chris Bennett said. “We got her on a pitch count for a while, mainly because she does some things that are still a little uncomfortable.”

Cooper, who said the injury gave her time to work on her perimeter shooting, hopes to play a full game in the coming weeks.

“It felt really good to play again,” she said. “I wasn’t concerned about playing good in my first game. I’m just easing into it. I’m progressively increasing the amount of minutes I play each game.

“I feel good on the court. I think I’m past the mental state of it. Right now, I’m trying to build up my endurance because I lost a lot of my speed and endurance from being out nine months.”

Cooper was averaging 10.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.3 steals and shooting 53% from the field when she suffered the injury during a game against St. Charles North.

“What was weird about it — and I’ve had a couple of ACLs over the years — it was a contact ACL,” Bennett said. “The girl just kind of came into the side of her leg. If it wasn’t for the contact, it wouldn’t have happened.”

The Bears ended up losing in the Class 4A sectional semifinals and finished 25-8.

“I missed the playoffs,” Cooper said. “It was pretty difficult to watch those games.”

Cooper’s father, Dylan, said she took the injury hard.

“The first 48 hours, I would say she cried and didn’t want to come out of her room or talk to anybody,” Dylan Cooper said. “After that, she said, ‘Let’s get this done and attack this and get the process (started).’

“Psychologically, I think she needed to hit rock bottom and then fight back hard. Physically, she had plenty of help and assistance. The psychological aspect is always more challenging, just like when can you trust it fully. It was a long time coming.”

Cooper, a multisport athlete who advanced to the Class 3A state meet in the 100-meter hurdles as a freshman, remained engaged while she was out, according to Bennett.

“She’s had a great attitude about it the whole time, helping her teammates the whole summer,” Bennett said. “It’s good to get her back out there.”

Last season, Bennett said Cooper “will be one of the best players in the state the next two years.” He stands by those words, calling Cooper an elite talent.

“She’s a special athlete, and then you combine that with how hard she works to improve her basketball skills,” Bennett said. “Avery has that crazy athletic body type. Her athleticism is insane. She runs like a gazelle and jumps out of the gym. Just a special athlete.”

Bobby Narang is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.