It’s a shame when players aren’t allowed to reach their full potential.

That is the case with junior Ashley Kearney.

I have enjoyed covering Eastern’s women’s basketball team for the past two seasons, despite their record. The Panthers have shown they have a lot of potential, and this year they should be poised for their first winning season since 1994-95.

Eastern has plenty of talent returning to the team this year.

Eastern has two good perimeter scorers in guards senior Lauren Dailey and junior Sarah Riva. Senior forward Ronesha Franklin has tremendous potential but takes some risks with the ball that could be avoided.

Seniors Allison Collins and Katie Meyers are quality post players. Eastern also has Pam O’Connor returning at center after a year off while she recovered from a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

However, Kearney will not be returning to the court. Kearney suffered a slipped disc in her back early in her freshman year. She returned last season to start most of the Panthers’ games, but she was still hampered by back pain. As the season went on, the pain got worse.

Kearney returned to Eastern early this year to work on her rehabilitation with team trainers, but the pain was still getting worse.

“I came back this summer a little early to start rehab with (team trainers) Katie Rybak and Mark (Bonnstetter),” Kearney said. “I saw a couple doctors and they said it would probably be best that I not be playing anymore. The pain became pretty much unbearable and it wasn’t worth it anymore.”

So Kearney told her teammates that she would not be returning as the team’s point guard.

“I felt bad that she never really had the opportunity (to play without pain),” Eastern coach Linda Wunder said. “Last season I thought she had a full season even though she missed a couple of games.”

However, Kearney’s basketball career is not over. She will stay with the team as a student assistant coach.

“Coach Wunder proposed the idea, saying if I wanted to stay with the team, and I said of course,” Kearney said.

Wunder said Kearney will help coach Eastern’s new point guards. Eastern has three new players at the position, freshmen Megan Casad and Melanie Ploger and junior college transfer Kelli Price.

Eastern will miss Kearney on the court. The amount of difference she could have made if she was healthy is immeasurable.

Kearney played good defense, an important part of playing the point guard position. She could cause turnovers creating points for Eastern. She also ran the offense well, limiting turnovers, which have been the Panthers’ real downfall.

Kearney might have made a 10-point difference in the score, but unfortunately Panther fans will never know.