Surrounded by support

INDIANOLA — Jenna Taylor’s competitive spirit has never been questioned.

She went through all of the competition Iowa and the Midwest region had to offer in qualifying for the national finals of the Elks Hoop Shoot basketball shooting contest as a youth, pushed by the diligent guidance of her father, Bill Taylor. They spent hours practicing in the SWCC gym together.

She played in the state tennis tournament in high school, and was an all-conference basketball player who earned an opportunity to play at Simpson College, after graduating as a valedictorian at Creston Community High School with straight A’s. When she graduated, she was also the school’s all-time leading scorer in girls five-player basketball. (She has since been passed by SWCC freshman Brielle Baker, who ended with 1,189 points.)

But, in recent months, she’s felt pain on many layers. The kind of pain that brings perspective.

When her Simpson team fell out of a first-place tie in the American Rivers Conference Wednesday night in a 73-63 home loss to co-leader Luther College, Taylor still had that sour taste in her mouth as a competitor. She wasn’t pleased with herself, getting in foul trouble and finishing with six points and four rebounds.

But, there is a new outlook on life that made her realize it was not the end of the world.

Fateful day

On Nov. 7, 2019, Jenna was told early in the day that an MRI had indicated the pain she had felt in her lower back for several months was not muscular in nature, as many in the medical field had surmised. Instead, the test indicated a stress fracture of her L5 vertebrae. Just as practice for her third season at Simpson was about to begin, physical activity was shut down for six weeks. Basically, she would not be a basketball player until late December. Sometime in the next decade or so, she will be advised to undergo fusion surgery.

It had already been a brutal week for Jenna and her family, as her father was in hospice care with a rapidly developing case of pancreatic cancer. On that evening of Nov. 7, just hours after doctors told her she would have to shut down her basketball passion, her father lost his battle with cancer.

The shadow cast as her lifelong basketball mentor was enormous, not to mention his role as a loving and devoted father. Bill Taylor was a well-known figure in the community for helping basketball players after retiring as Southwestern Community College’s men’s coach, as he moved into administrative roles at the college.

But, nobody received more attention and care in development of their games as Jenna and her older brother, Colby, who himself starred at Central College before a brief professional career overseas. The discussions after games, the phone calls, the text messages with tips. All of those things were suddenly gone after Bill’s life ended just three weeks after his October diagnosis.

Jenna, Colby and their mother, Joni were left with a huge void in their lives, with virtually no warning. So, the grind of physical therapy to make her body capable of playing basketball again and a defeat such as Wednesday’s game were not enough to knock Jenna down. She understands life and death.

“Sure, everything that happened definitely puts things in perspective, especially on the court,” Jenna said after Wednesday’s loss. “There’s stuff that’s bigger than what just happened in basketball.”

In the hallway of the Cowles Center on the Simpson College campus Wednesday night, Jenna met with her immediate family, grandparents, aunts and cousins. Her support system is strong, along with her coaches and teammates. She hasn’t slipped one bit from her academic prowess as a 4.0 student who has been on the President’s List every semester she’s been enrolled at Simpson.

Perseverance

Whether it’s having to deal with a second stress fracture in her body since her freshman year, or the loss of a parent much too soon, Jenna Taylor perseveres without wavering.

“My professors were great about working things out when I was gone for a week with my dad and the funeral,” Taylor said. “I live with three of my teammates — Cassie Chubb, Claire Johnson and Madie Bacon — and we’re extremely close. That was huge. I don’t know how my brother does it without having that support system around him. I’ve gone home to see mom a little more than I used to, sometimes after practice and when I don’t have an early class the next day.”

Brian Niemuth is in his 33rd year as head coach of the Simpson women’s basketball team. But all of that experience doesn’t really prepare someone for dealing with the kind of loss Jenna has experienced.

He quickly learned how close-knit his team was when they requested permission to attend Bill’s funeral in Creston on a Tuesday, during the season. Niemuth was all for it.

“It’s a group that gets along well and they support each other,” Niemuth said. “They wanted to be there for Jenna, and we got it arranged. On the back of our warmups we have a heart with Bill’s initials in it, as a tribute to him. They do those things in his memory, but also for her as a friend and teammate.”

Last year was smooth sailing in comparison to the trials of her senior academic year — Jenna plans to play a fourth season next year despite qualifying for her degree in May in accounting and economics with an emphasis in finance, because she missed her entire freshman season with a stress fracture in her right tibia. She plans to enhance her degree with a minor in management information systems while playing next year.

Standout season

As a junior on the court she earned all-conference first team honors after averaging 18.0 points and 7.7 rebounds. She led all levels of NCAA basketball with her 3-point shooting accuracy of 43.8%. She was also selected as CoSIDA Academic All-American, second team, for the second consecutive season as she maintained her 4.0 cumulative grade point average.

Because of her back issues, Taylor missed the first eight games of this season and gradually started getting a few minutes of action per game in late December. She’s been coming off the bench, now getting 20 to 22 minutes per game while averaging 7.8 points and 3.8 rebounds.

“I still feel about a half-step behind in a lot of ways, and I’ve lost about 10 pounds of muscle because I haven’t been able to lift weights,” said the 6-foot forward. “But I’m feeling better every day. I have a brace, some pain medicine and the (therapy) exercises are helping.”

“Jenna and I have a pretty good relationship and we can talk if we’re trying to give her more than she’s ready for,” Niemuth said. “With Chubb going down with an ankle injury (Wednesday), we’re probably going to move Jenna back into the starting lineup a little sooner than planned, but I think she’s ready. Hopefully she can continue to make progress and we can get her up to about 30 minutes a game by the conference tournament.”

Simpson has an overall record of 15-4 and 7-3 in the conference, now one game behind leaders Loras, Wartburg and Luther. The top two teams receive a conference tournament first-round bye, and the teams in third and fourth places earn a home game to start the tournament. The champion and possibly other high finishers can earn a trip to the national tournament, which remains a goal of Jenna and her teammates.

Positive attitude

“Losing tonight doesn’t help, but we just have to go up to Loras Saturday and get a win to get back in it,” said the ever-hopeful former Panther star.

Getting back on the court was a big part of the healing process for Jenna, in several ways, according to her coach.

“Basketball was a big connection between her and Bill,” Niemuth said. “I think it was driving her nuts having to sit out at the beginning of the season.”

For Jenna, each day that passes she’s able to focus a little more on her studies and her role on the team. The new normal will never be “normal” to her, she acknowledges, but she isn’t one to lay down and quit under the strain.

“It’s been tough for sure,” Jenna said. “I try to use it as inspiration. I think of him every time I go to my right, because he always wanted me to go to my left. I think of him a lot. When I was trying to get caught up in practice and in school, I was pretty stressed out. But I had a huge support system of coaches, teammates and faculty. Everyone has been awesome here.”