Hannah Muchemore drives to the hoop for Bishop Guertin during the 2018 Division I title game vs. Pinkerton. Muchemore is hoping to ressurrect her career at Rivier University after being sidelined for two years due to a knee injury. (Telegraph file photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – The traditional way would have been to cross the days off on a calendar. But this being the 21st century, they were counted on her cell phone.

The count was 689 days. That many between the time Hannah Muchemore would lace up the shoes to play on a basketball court.

Now a sophomore at Rivier University, the former Bishop Guertin standout may have been telling herself and others her basketball days were over, but she never fully believed it.

And on January 2, practice jersey on, Muchemore took the court at Rivier University’s Muldoon Fitness Center.

“As my father (Mike) told me, it was unfinished business,” she said. “I knew (Rivier) was there, it’s basically in my backyard. Coach D.J., Deanna Purcell was there, I played for Sandy (her sister) over at BG, so it was nice to have someone there who knows you. My family (during times without pandemic restrictions) could always be at my games.”

The huge bump in the road came in mid-February, 2020, when Muchemore was going up for a layup vs. Windham on Guertin’s Senior Night of all nights and had her legs taken out, crashing to the floor on her kneecap.

And then, after rest, she gave it a go off the bench in a huge game at Franklin, Mass. She lasted a minute, 13 seconds. She knows exactly.

“I heard a pop,” she said. “I knew it was over.”

She wanted to keep playing, but Cards head coach Brad Kreick told her she was done for the day and near future. If she did physical therapy, Muchemore was told she could possibly play at some point in the Division I state tournament with a brace. Set to return in the semis, she suffered a different type of setback, along with her teammates – the game and the rest of the tournament was cancelled. Her high school basketball career was over.

“What made it even worse,” Kreick said, “was she was having a fantastic year, too. But you have to protect a kid from herself at that point. It was a bitter pill for everybody to swallow, but mostly her.”

After everything was shut down, Muchemore was told by her doctors she could undergo physical therapy for the next year to allow scar tissue to grow around it. But a year later, the pain persisted and surgery was recommended. So she had the PCL replaced last May, with the thought of possibly returning to the court after a year of coaching as a varsity assistant at BG last year.

Muchemore was committed to Keene State to play hoop before she was injured, but the injury changed everything.

“I was didn’t want to play anymore, because I was afraid to play,” she said.

But nine months of physical therapy with a local therapist, Conor Lyons, got Muchemore feeling different about her basketball future.

“He pushed me to be stronger, and be more mentally strong than I’ve ever been in my life,” she said. “If it wasn’t for him, I don’t think I’d be playing right now.”

The practices at Rivier were a mental test for Muchemore, after so long away from stepping on the court.That first practice back especially was a struggle in her mind.

“I was really out of shape,” she said. “We started stretching, and I’m thinking I’m good, I’m good. Then we got into a drill, and it was like, ‘Holy crap, I’m playing again.”

She started to run a bit more and felt her knee ache, but then realized it was all mental. She had her brace on, but she was told she didn’t need to wear it by her trainers, etc.

“I took it off 20 minutes into practice,” she said. “And I was fine. … I thought I was dreaming still.”

Purcell told her not to worry. The next step was to see how her knew would respond. Her hamstring and calf were more sore. But with a tendon from a cadaver now in her knee, she had all the confidence in the world.

Next step: Game day. Her first game back was just over two weeks ago, on Jan. 6 vs. Saint Joseph’s of Maine. She was sweating, shaking, as nervous as she’s ever been.

Her one-time foe and now teammate, former Manchester Memorial standout Lyric Grumblatt, gave her a pep talk.

“She was like, ‘Hannah, you’re good, kid. You know how to play basketball. We’re going to have a time.'”

She entered the game two-and-a-half minutes into the first quarter, not quite sure she heard Purcell’s words correctly when she called her name. And it was just like old times.

The only negative? No fans were allowed as Rivier has closed its men’s and women’s basketball games due to the COVID surge. Muchemore had about 30 family members and friends set to attend. Instead they watched the livestream with a “watch party” at her house and many were outside the building when the game was over to greet her.

“It was definitely a special night for everyone,” Muchemore said.

Right now, it’s one step at a time. “I’m doing the little things,” she said, referring to rushing back on defense, taking charges, diving for loose balls while Grumblatt does the scoring and another former Crusader, Jess Carrier dishes the ball. “Maybe some of the things others on my team don’t do.”

In two games – Muchemore and the team were dealing with a bout with COVID at last look – she’s played 24.5 minutes, averaging six points.

Is there any change after the injury in her game? Muchemore used to aggressively attack the basket at Guertin.

“I’m still a little timid with my knee,” she said. “I’m starting to get back into it. … DJ’s been yelling at me, ‘Hannah, you see an open lane, you go!’ … I feel like I’m good right now.”

In fact, in her second game, “I was myself again.”

Of course, Muchemore has to adjust to the new level, playing teams with more size, etc. But playing the out-of-state games she did at Bishop Guertin, she said, has helped her with having to play tough games every night.

BASKETBALL WAS IT

Muchemore has been playing the game since she was in the first or second grade and only the injury stopped her since. She always wanted to go to Guertin, and her love for the game made her a perfect fit for Kreick’s program and vice-versa.

“It was always my dream school,” she said. “I would think it was so cool. All my siblings went to Nashua North, but there was going to be nothing that got me away from (BG).”

And she called playing for Kreick and his staff “an unreal experience” that produced three outright championships (the fourth was shared with Goffstown due to the pandemic). In her junior year ‘s finals vs. Portsmouth, she hit a huge, buzzer beating 3 pointer that gave the Cards much-needed breathing room entering the fourth quarter.

She basically learned the game at the Colligadome.

“I learned it takes a whole unit to win; you won’t be able to do it alone,” she said. “Without the coaching staff, without the players, you can’t do it alone. … We were something special.”

A few days after the initial injury, Muchemore’s attitude was that she was going to “push through”, whatever it took. But when she got hurt a second time vs. Franklin, she called it “a devastating moment.” Her knee, the MRI showed, was completely torn.

And the long road back began, whether she knew it or not.

PERFECT FIT

Muchemore sometimes wonders what it would have been like at Keene State, but she admits she likes being home.

“I don’t know if I would’ve been able to go to Keene, honestly,” she said. “I’m such a homebody, I like being able to go to my nephew’s basketball games, and my little cousin’s basketball games. I think being home is where I was meant to be.”

Ironically, she originally felt Riv was too close to home – super close, as in about 30 seconds from her house. “I should have listened to my Mom; she always wanted me to go there,” she said.

Purcell would always try to recruit her, and her mother would drop hints. But Muchemore said no, she wanted to take classes on line.

“But one morning,” she said, referring to a day in early this past October, “I’m at the hair salon. And the hairdresser was a family friend.”

And in their conversation, Muchemore came to a realization. “I said to her, ‘You know, I want to play basketball again.'”

She contacted Purcell’s sister and asked if she could put in a word for her. She was told to text the Raiders coach immediately, which she did.

“We had a conversation that day,” Muchemore said, noting she would have to wait until second semester to play. She was medically cleared to play Jan. 1.

“She’s always been a gym rat,” Kreick said. “I’ve known the kid since she was 12 and I was coaching Biddy Basketball. The fact that she was shut down from playing the sport she loves was really tough for her. The timing couldn’t have been worse. … But as she started to get a little more healthy, she was ready to get back at it. I think she’s going to be fantastic at Riv.

“She just loves basketball. I think in the back of her mind, she knew there would come a time when she could have an opportunity to get back into it. That kind of kept her going.”

That, Kreick said, her family support plus her time staying in the game coaching, and her optimism has led her back on the floor.

“The kid’s a scholarship level talent,” Kreick said, referring to the fact Muchemore had a couple of Division II offers while at BG. “It’s absolutely a perfect fit.”

Her major is one of Riv’s specialties: elementary education. She’ll likely teach and also wants to coach down the road.

“One hundred percent,” she said. “Teach by day, coach at night.”

At BG, at times she had the JV team under her coaching thumb as a fill-in, and then would also work with the varsity. She learned even more from Kreick. “I can bring everything he’s taught me into the world,” she said. “One day I could be a pretty good coach because of him.”

“She really gets the kids,” Kreick said, “and has a way to get them to trust her.To me, that’s more important than the X’s and O’s.”

In fact, she’s been coaching sixth and seventh graders in AAU. “I like being with little kids, I like being able to help them love the game I’ve always loved,” Muchemore said. “It’s a great experience.”

But the best experience for Muchemore is being able to be back playing on the basketball court. The mental strain she’d been feeling since March of 2020 had been excruciating. She was comfortable going to school on line, coaching on the side, and getting her basketball fix that way. But her father’s words of “unfinished business” kept her motivated to come back.

“I didn’t think I was was going to be able to play anymore,” she said. “So being able to be on the court right now is so unreal. … Here I am, playing again.”

And there’s no more count to get her down.