Published: November 05, 2009 01:20 am      

EKU’S Hoston out part of season after knee surgery

RICHMOND — After the conclusion of last season, the Lady Colonels were dealt a big blow.

It was discovered that the team’s only real post player, Sonjia Hoston, had a tear in her anterior cruciate ligament.

Hoston, who saw action in 20 of last season’s 27 games, had worked her way up to averaging 10 minutes per contest, and almost four points per game. However, in her final five games, she played double-digit minutes four times, made 63 percent of her shots and grabbed a career-best seven boards.

Hoston was diagnosed in the off-season by Eastern Kentucky University trainer David Green and had surgery over the summer.

“That set her back a little bit,” EKU coach Chrissy Roberts said. “I had the talk with her about how at the end of the season, she was starting to come along. We are rehabbing her and getting her stronger.”

Hoston has not been able to play during preseason scrimmages, but Roberts said she is optimistic that when Ohio Valley Conference play starts in January, the Lady Colonels will have her back.

“When she is able to play, she’ll be really good for us,” Roberts said. “She’s a strong post player. She was working on her hands and on her footwork, but hopefully come January, we’ll be able to look for her a little bit. The knee set her back a little bit but we’re trying to keep her focused.”

Roberts definitely knew what she was going to need to recruit at the end of last season — some height. She ended up signing three girls who are taller than six-foot — Elizabethtown standout Alex Jones, freshman Michaelea Kleist from Mason, Ohio and Kaiti Cochren, a 6-foot-5 center transfer from Vincennes University.

“It’s nice to have some height and I’m sure Colette (Cole) and Nadia (Mossong) and some of the (other players) who had to play out of position last season, to have Kaiti, it’s nice to have that height,” Roberts said.

Cochren, a sophomore from Fort Branch, Ind., was an Indiana All-Star for Wood Memorial High School her senior year. That team went to the Class A state championship game, during which she posted a triple-double with 17 points, 13 rebounds and 10 blocks (a state finals record) in a 54-46 loss. She led the state her junior and senior seasons in blocked shots.

She was a member of last season’s NJCAA national championship tournament team at Vincennes University, which finished with a 25-10 record and placed seventh in the tournament. She averaged three points and four rebounds.

“Just in the preseason up until now, she’s a totally different player,” Roberts said. “It’s a great change for us, to have Kaiti and Alex and Michaelea, and we’ll be able to do a lot more. We’re going to look to pound it inside a lot more.”