NEW ULM — Injuries can be a big part of a high school team’s season.

But for the New Ulm High School girls basketball team, injuries have become more than a part of their season.

They have become a normal part of the season for the 15-6 Eagles, a team that also recently got ranked 10th in Class AAA.

“We have only played one game this season where everybody was able to play,” New Ulm head coach Julie Rogers said. “That game was against Marshall and what a great game that was.”

The Eagles won that game 67-65 after senior Daviney Dreckman hit the game-winner to break a 14-game losing streak to the Tigers.

“But I feel a little bit like they have been cheated because imagine if they had each other for a full squad for all 20 games,” Rogers said.

During New Ulm’s 69-59 win at Mankato West last Saturday, the Eagles suffered another injury setback.

“I got a rebound and I was doing one my moves that I do every day,” Dreckman, who’s averaging 16.8 points per game, said. “I did a Euro step and I felt it — I felt it [in my left knee] right away and I went down, got back up — took a second for myself and shot my free throws. I let it be for a little bit and I knew that something was not right here.”

Dreckman said that the trainers were making sure her ligament was fine.

“I had previously tore the ACL in my left knee — they made me run, jump, cut and it felt fine,” Dreckman said. “So I went back in the game in the second half. I went back up for a rebound and I felt it again and I said I had to get out of the game.

“I knew the feeling from the first time I tore it and I thought, ‘Don’t tell me I have done it again.’ It was a surreal feeling and I do not know if it has sunk in with me yet, but it really sucks. One of my gym teachers said that when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.”

Dreckman had again torn her ACL in her left knee, ending her high school basketball career with 1,301 points.

The Eagles’ season started when they lost McKenzie Enter for an early part of the season due to an injury suffered in a car accident prior to the season.

Then starting guard Brooklyn Lewis broke her hand and was lost for six weeks.

“We lost Maddie [Backer] for a game because she was sick and we lost a C-team player for the season because she has a stress fracture in her back,” Rogers said. “We have had other girls who have had to sit out games because they have been sick or injured. It just seems like we have had more than our share.”

But things started to get back to normal as Enter returned and then Lewis got back to the court last Friday in Marshall before scoring 26 points in the win over Mankato West last Saturday.

“But it almost seems like we have been cursed,” Rogers said.

Rogers said that despite the injuries, the players have understood.

“These things are beyond our control and have reacted to it positively,” she said. “You can control the way that you react to the injury and the girls that did get hurt have stepped up and took on a different role. When Brooklyn was out, she was always encouraging her teammates and telling them what she sees on the court — she was contributing from a different standpoint.

“And the same is for Daviney. She comes to practices and helps her teammates. And now she has agreed to help coach our C-team, so these young girls are going to get her advice and knowledge to move forward. So these athletes who have been injured have found a different way to contribute. But it has certainly been frustrating to come to these games night after night without our full team.”

Dreckman said she still comes to practice every day.

“I know that I am not playing, but I want to soak up every minute that I have with these girls because before we know it, the season is going to be done and I want to spend the last weeks of the season that we have together.”

Dreckman will play basketball next season for Jamestown University.