Inside ACL tear recovery, from the perspective of two Villanova women’s basketball players

Denae Carter’s first year at Villanova was isolating. After transferring from Mississippi State as a junior, she had to adjust to new surroundings and new teammates. Along with that, she couldn’t play basketball, the sport that brought her to Villanova and back to her hometown of Philadelphia.

A torn anterior cruciate ligament forced Carter to spend the 2023-24 season on the sidelines. Meanwhile, she endured grueling physical therapy at Villanova’s NovaCare rehabilitation clinic.

“It’s something I wouldn’t wish on anybody,” Carter said. “Learning how to lift your leg again, those simple things became a lot more difficult than you’d think they’d be. But the mental part is really tough, knowing that you have to push through every single day.”

And last season, Carter watched it happen to another of her teammates, junior Brynn McCurry. After tearing her ACL in the preseason, McCurry was sidelined for all of 2024-25.

But now, Carter is in the final run of her college career. With nearly two full seasons back on the court, she has become a crucial defensive player for Villanova. She leads the team in blocks with 36 while averaging 8.8 points and 5.0 rebounds.

McCurry’s basketball career also was far from over. Back on the court, she joined Villanova’s starting five for 2025-26 and has averaged 10.7 points and 5.2 rebounds. McCurry’s performance earned her the Big East’s Most Improved Player award.

Recent advancements in ACL treatment, especially for female athletes, have allowed players like Carter and McCurry not just to return to the court, but to come back stronger.

They’re among the hundreds of thousands of American athletes who rupture their ACLs every year. The injury is especially prevalent among young female athletes, and research has shown that women are two to eight times more likely to injure their ACLs than men while playing sports.

A torn ACL is one of the most serious injuries among basketball players.

It typically happens during sudden, noncontact knee movements, such as jumping, twisting, or cutting. Athletes who suffer an ACL injury often report a “popping” sound as the ligament, located in the middle of the knee, overextends or tears. That sound can instantly mean the end of an athlete’s season, or even their career.

Dr. Liane Miller, an assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery at Penn, said it is one of the most common knee injuries she sees in young athletes. Miller works with Penn’s Center for the Female Athlete, a multidisciplinary program focused on treating active women of all ages. It is one of just a handful of sports medicine programs in the country that focus specifically on female athletes.

“The sad truth of it is that the institution of medicine, for the longest period of time, was very male-focused, both in terms of the doctors themselves and the research being done on male participants,” Miller said. “That’s starting to be addressed. We’re still pretty far behind, but it’s something that people are definitely focusing on because we know that there is a difference [between male and female athletes].”

ACL tears, in particular, are known to threaten female athletes more than their male counterparts.

Anatomic differences are the main factor considered to increase women’s risk of ACL injuries. Women’s naturally wider hips place more stress on the knee during movements, especially when jumping and landing. Women also tend to have more active quad strength than hamstring strength, and that muscle dominance in the front of the body can add further stress to the ACL.

ACL tears require surgery using a graft, which usually takes up to nine months or a year for athletes to make a full recovery.

“When we fix an ACL, most of the time, we’re not sewing the two ends of the ligament together,” Miller said. “We’re reconstructing it with a new ligament or tendon, and that tissue takes some time to mature and integrate into the body. So there’s a certain amount of time that that healing just needs to happen. A lot of the recovery after ACL reconstruction focuses on rebuilding muscle weaknesses, but also trying to prevent the risk of a recurrent ACL injury.”

» READ MORE: Here’s how Brynn McCurry became Villanova’s ‘bionic’ force

Some of what causes an ACL tear simply is bad luck: a sudden turn, misstep, or hard landing. But a focus of current research is how to prevent this. According to Miller, studies have shown that incorporating a prevention program into warmups and practice can reduce the risk of injury up to 70%.

Carter and McCurry have had more than one ACL tear. Carter’s first injury happened during her freshman season at Mississippi State. McCurry had torn her other ACL as a senior in high school. The occasional lingering pains and soreness have been part of their basketball careers ever since.

McCurry has become recognized for the black knee brace she wears on the court, along with an elbow brace after tearing her UCL.

“[The braces] really are the only way I can stay on the court and play,” McCurry said. “I just proved to myself that I can do hard things, even when it seems like something out of the picture. It just goes to show that I’m trying my best to stay out there and overcome any obstacles that I can.”

While the physical recovery from an ACL tear is tedious, the mental recovery can be just as difficult. According to Miller, psychological readiness to return is essential, as the fear of having a recurrent injury can make athletes feel unsteady, increasing risk.

“It can be kind of scary, wondering, ‘Am I going to come back as good as I was?’” McCurry said. “That’s definitely a risk you think about. But having support, and the accomplishment itself of coming back and playing at this level, feeds the motivation.”

For Carter, having family nearby was a major benefit during her second ACL recovery process.

“My dad was my biggest supporter, taking me to every doctor’s appointment and physical therapy session,” Carter said. “He was always there encouraging me.”

Both players said the support system at Villanova, from teammates to coaches to training staff, was essential. They pushed each other through the incremental steps of recovery, from going through surgery to jogging on a treadmill again.

“My first year I was out, but Brynn was playing,” Carter said. “And then my second year, I played and she didn’t. I think we built a really good connection, even sometimes going to PT together. Being able to have somebody to share that unfortunate connection with really does help. It transforms your perspective to, ‘OK, she did it. I can do it.’ It makes you want to push through even more.”

For Carter, there is one silver lining of her year off the court: She now has a different outlook on the game that has defined her college years. Watching from the sideline gave her what she called a “coach’s perspective.” As a fifth-year team leader, Carter is taking that maturity and experience with her while the Wildcats await an NCAA Tournament bid.

» READ MORE: After Big East championship game loss, NCAA Tournament awaits Villanova