Photo by Kyle Parmley.
Vestavia Hills’ Courtney Milner (12) shoots a free throw during a game against Gardendale. Milner has come back from two knee injuries to be a top contributor for the Lady Rebels.
The Vestavia Hills High School girls basketball program has seen a bit of resurgence this season after going through some growing pains the last few years.
There are many reasons for that. The Lady Rebels have a handful of players capable of scoring in double figures each game. The team is also versatile, possesses depth and displays a collective selflessness.
But perhaps one of the most important factors is the veteran leadership it has in Courtney Milner and Grace Uldrich, two seniors who have taken wildly different paths to get to where they are today.
“They both understand what this is about,” said Vestavia Hills head coach Laura Casey. “If you ask both of them right now to kind of explain this season, they both understand very clearly that God gives them the ability that they have and allows them to play the game they love.”
BATTLING BACK
The brace adorning Milner’s left knee only begins to tell the story of her high school basketball journey. Following her sophomore season, when she was selected as an all-area player, Milner had aspirations of continuing her development and becoming a player with college potential.
Things changed, though. She tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee, and the rehabilitation carried into the start of last basketball season, her junior year. Roughly eight months following her knee injury, she was working vigorously to get back into playing shape and get back on the court with the Lady Rebels.
Then, it happened again. Another knee injury, this one a torn ACL in her left knee.
“It was really frustrating because I had just gotten back, hadn’t even played in my first game back,” Milner said.
Naturally, she was frustrated.
“I didn’t really know if I wanted to continue playing,” she said. “I was thinking since this was my junior year, it’s the most important of basketball for colleges to come recruit you. I was really angry.”
But she gained a unique perspective sitting on the bench, watching her teammates battle through ups and downs and seeing the game at a different level. She said she realized that she “really loved the sport” and would do the necessary work to get back and play her senior year.
Milner did that, and now she’s back on the floor looking to make the most of her final year. She has come off the bench to provide big minutes and critical leadership for the Lady Rebels.
She already made an impact on Uldrich. The two have a camaraderie that dates back to recreation ball in elementary school.
“Watching her has been so humbling and inspiring and amazing,” Uldrich said, “because she was always there for the team [while she was injured].”
Milner admitted she was “a little nervous” in her first few games back on the floor, but she doesn’t even notice the knee brace now.
“It’s great to have Courtney back on the floor,” Casey said.
A CHOICE TO MAKE
Uldrich has made her mark in multiple areas of the athletics program at Vestavia Hills. Not only is she a 5-foot-11 forward for the basketball team, but she also has established herself as one of the top swimmers in the state.
At the high school state championships in December, Uldrich placed sixth in the 50-yard freestyle and was on a pair of relay teams that placed in the top five.
She has been swimming since she was 5 years old and never succumbed to the pressure to specialize through grade school.
“I was always told you have to choose one sport. You can’t be good at swimming and you can’t be good at basketball, you have to choose one,” she said.
Uldrich said basketball and swimming complement each other greatly, as the conditioning that basketball requires translates to the pool and the core strength gained through swimming aids in Uldrich’s ability to hold her own on the hardwood.
“I’ve loved being able to do both,” she said.
In the pool, Uldrich specializes in the 50- and 100-yard freestyles and the 100- and 200-yard backstroke events.
Once Uldrich gets to Washington University in St. Louis, she has an offer to play basketball or to swim competitively, but the sports overlap at the collegiate level. They are both winter sports, so she would then be forced to choose one.
CONTRASTING STYLES
Milner and Uldrich have always been on the same basketball team, but that doesn’t mean they are the same type of player. They’re opposites in many ways, particularly in the way they contribute to leading the Lady Rebels.
“They’re so different,” Casey said. “Courtney is the quiet, lead-by-example, that’s just her style. … Grace and her size and how vocal she is, she does talk all the time and that’s so good for our younger ones who don’t want to do that all the time.”
In other words, Uldrich says it all and Milner does it all. One doesn’t work without the other, and vice versa.
“They’re good for each other in that regard,” Casey said. “Both of them have been with us through some pretty rough years, so I love watching them see some success.”
As for their final run in a Vestavia Hills uniform, Milner wants everyone to do their part and stay healthy.
Uldrich believes her team has a great deal of potential.
“I would just like to see my team finish strong in area play,” she said. “It is the last one and it’s always a little emotional.”