Ghosts of Wounded Past Haunt DeYona Gaston Again as Texas Longhorns Bow Their Heads to a Superior Kansas State

This NCAA season is looming with injuries as we are seeing a lot of players getting hurt, more so for some players the injuries have ended the season for them. USC’s Aubrey Griffin (torn ACL), Ayanna Patterson (patellar tendonitis), Azzi Fudd (torn ACL and medial meniscus), and Caroline Ducharme (neck spasms), Baylor’s Y.Ndjonga (knee injury), H. Veesaar (elbow injury) are some of the players this season hasn’t proved to be fruitful. Another name added today is Texas Longhorns’ forward DeYona Gaston as the Longhorns fell to the Wildcats by a close 61-58.

Let’s look into what exactly happened that caused the injury.

Texas Longhorns taking a close hit

In their recent matchup against the Kansas State Wildcats, the Texas Longhorns kept nudging in what looked like a back-and-forth game including 8 ties and 9 lead shifts throughout the game. However, it all came down to one of the last possessions that changed everything and the Texas Longhorns faced a 61-58 defeat from the Kansas State Wildcats.

It happened in the last few seconds when DeYona Gaston collided with a Wildcat in a run to catch the ball. As a result, she fell on the floor, holding her leg in pain. Then after a minute or 2, she was helped to be off the court.

However, this was not the first time that Gaston had suffered from an injury. Notably, Last year this season, she suffered an injury during The Orange-White scrimmage held on the 24th of October. However, she made a quick comeback in her first game of the season against Long Beach State with an impressive 9-point and 5-rebound performance in a 106-62 win.

Before that, during her debut season in 2020-21, Gaston underwent surgery to repair a stress fracture in her shin. This injury became the reason Gaston had to miss the rest of the season. Now, switching up to her knee injury which eventually cut short her junior season at Pearland. Despite those injuries sustained, Gaston continued to improve her contribution to her team.

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Now, let’s look at how the Longhorns have been performing this season.

The treading Longhorns of Texas

This season, the Longhorns have been playing exceptionally well. Currently, they have a record of 15-1 and rank 5th in the Big 12. Some notable victories earned by the Longhorns include an 80-35 win against Southern Texas, a 75-57 win against Liberty, a 110-64 win against UT Arlington, and a 96-44 win against Louisiana Tech. They have been consistently performing strongly which has contributed to their high ranking and excellent record.

More so, this season Gaston has been averaging 7.5 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 0.5 assists per game. Also, she has been shooting with a field goal percentage of 52.1%. Her career highlights include her breakthrough 2022-23 junior season when she earned All-Big 12 First Team honors. That season she played 32 games and was one of the top scorers on her team with 12.1 points per game.

Her breakout sophomore season featured Gaston averaging 7.1 points per game and collecting 11 double-digit scoring efforts. Notably, she appeared in 11 games during her freshman season where she started 3 games.

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However, with injuries coming back from time to time, Gaston is the kind of player who keeps getting stronger and stronger with every hit.