Morgan Academy started basketball season Tuesday night without its most experienced player.

The Senators had to tip-off the year without senior Emily Sherrer — the only senior on Morgan’s roster. Sherrer broke her left leg and ankle last year during a hustle drill at practice and is experiencing tendinitis. She’s hoping to be back on the court by mid-December and even earlier if the pain subsides.

Right now, she said it’s hard to watch as her teammates practice and play in games, and it’s easy to see what they’re missing without Sherrer on the floor. The story of how she got hurt shows the toughness, determination and competitiveness of the senior.

“Our coach put a basketball in the center of the court and said ‘What do you need in basketball to win a game?’” Sherrer said of how she got hurt last year.

“All the other girls were like ‘points’ but I said the ball. She said ‘OK, whoever gets the ball first is done with practice.”

Well, Sherrer got the ball first, but she also got tripped up in the process. A teammate fell on her and both her leg and ankle broke.

She’s been playing basketball since kindergarten and had never been injured until she broke her leg.

“This is really tough for me,” she said. “I cannot stand to sit on the sidelines. I hate it. I just want to play.”

Sherrer grew up in a competitive family. Her sisters, Caroline and Rachael, were tennis players in high school, as was her brother Will. Caroline signed a tennis scholarship with UNC-Asheville in 2013.

As the youngest child, Emily always felt like she had something to prove. In sixth grade, she played nose tackle for Morgan Academy’s pee wee football team.

“Someone told me I couldn’t do it, so I did it,” Sherrer said. “I wasn’t like a tomboy or anything. I just wanted to play for fun.”

That’s the kind of determination the Senators will be glad to have back when Sherrer puts on her No. 4 jersey and gets back on the court. Until then, she’s hoping to make a difference from the sidelines, where her years of experience can still be helpful.

“She’s a huge leader,” said Morgan Academy coach Kayla Mason. “She makes them do what they’re supposed to do when I’m busy. She makes sure that they are always hustling from the sidelines. She does a really good job being a leader.”

She has an MRI scheduled for this upcoming week and hopes to get positive news.

“I’ll be excited to play but definitely nervous,” Sherrer said. “I’m ready though.”