University of Delaware Athletics
BLUE HEN SPOTLIGHT: Alecia Bell Bounces Back from Horrific Career-Threatening Injury
12/17/2015 11:55:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Written by Erin Dunne, Athletics Media Relations Student Intern
During the 2014 Blue Hens home opener, Alecia Bell's scream ripped through the air, piercing a silenced Bob Carpenter Center. Curled beneath the basket, Bell clutched her leg as coaches and 
athletic trainers rushed out on to the floor to her aide. After jumping for her own rebound, Bell landed on her left leg, sustaining an injury that quite literally bent her leg in half.
“Instantly, I sort of knew that my leg was broken,” Bell recalled. “Just hearing the snap was really scary and I immediately fell to the ground screaming, crying. After hitting the ground, I don't remember much.”
Tina Martin“Loading her onto to the stretcher, she turned to me and said 'please tell the team, tell them they have to win,'” remembered Martin.
The Hens went on to defeat perennial MAAC champion and NCAA contender Marist, who was also receiving votes in the national polls, 70-60, that night. The game ball was brought immediately following the game to Bell in the hospital.
Just two days earlier, the Newport News, Va. native registered her first career double double with career-highs of 14 points and 10 rebounds in the season opener at Lafayette.
An essential defensive player on the court and 
noteworthy leader off the court, Bell would not only be missed for the remainder of the game against Marist, but for the entire season.
“Just to know that the season was over for me after only my second game, it was really tough,” Bell commented. “It was a really big pill to swallow, hearing my athletic trainer say I was done for the season and that it was going to be a six month to a year recovery.”
But determined to play again, Bell would not accept ending her career in the sport she loved so soon.
With broken tibia and fibula bones, she would need surgery and four screws to put a rod in to repair the injury. But she would be able to play again.
“That first night after surgery, I knew she was going to make a valiant effort to come back and put that jersey back on,” remarked Martin. “She told me, 'it's not going to end this way. I'm going to come back, Coach.'”
As the process unfolded over the past year, Bell pushed herself every day to take the small steps she needed to get herself back on the floor. She taught her body to walk again, then run, then fully engage in the movement required in the game of basketball from January to July.
She credits her teammates as part of her motivation to come back. 
After surgery on November 17, 2014, Bell was determined to stop by the team's practice before returning to her home in Virginia to recover.
“The day I got out of the hospital, we had practice. So before they brought me home, I said 'mom, dad, I have to see the girls,'” Bell stated. “It made me happy to be able to see them, they really just lifted me up. They've been a huge part of motivating me to come back.”
For the rest of her junior season, Bell spent every practice and game sitting on the sidelines, cheering her teammates on and offering captain's advice when the team had a tough loss or practice.
“Sitting on the sidelines last year, it was tough because I just wanted to be in there so badly, helping them out,” Bell noted.
Now eight games into her senior campaign, Bell looks forward to continuing guiding the Blue Hens as a team captain alongside junior Hannah Jardine.
“This year I am really excited for me to be able to play. Just sitting on the sidelines watching, it was tough,” Bell said. “I want to win a ring for this team. All four of us seniors got a ring our freshman year, so this year we are determined to do that again. It's not going to be easy, but it's something that we are really hungry for.”
The coaches will look for Bell to fulfill her role as a standout defensive player to help the team communicate on court and lead for the season ahead.
“I don't expect her to score 20 points, or do something spectacular,” commented Martin. “The thing that makes her spectacular is that she is able to lead the team and she's able to talk to every single individual and inspire them. Not many players that quality.”
