Liberty’s Isabelle Harrison sheds reminder of devastating knee injury

For more than a year, Isabelle Harrison wore a bulky brace on her left knee.

It was a constant reminder of her surgically repaired torn meniscus that kept her out for the 2023 season.

“I hated looking at it,” Harrison said Monday. “I hated seeing it in pictures; I didn’t want to post them on social media. I was just really over it.”

Harrison wasn’t quite 100 percent last season when she suited up for the Sky.

Even at Athletes Unlimited this offseason, Harrison said she was working her way back to full strength.

Two weeks ago, though, Harrison felt it was time to take that next step in her healing.

Feeling as strong as she felt in years — both physically and mentally — she ditched the brace.

She saw it as a sign of not only strength but improvement.

“I just kind of took a leap of faith because sometimes it’s physical, but it’s also mental,” Harrison said. “I missed the whole year prior because of that, and I just didn’t want to do anything to risk it. But I’m at a point now where … I have been put in a really good program for my weights.

“Taking it off, it was a little scary. I’m not going to lie. When I went to rebound I didn’t want to step too far to the left. But again, over time, trusting myself, and it’s a process.”

Harrison already made peace with the fact she’ll never be the player she was before her most recent knee injury.

Her focus now is on being whatever the Liberty need her to be.

The first few weeks of training camp and this season were overwhelming at times for Harrison.

The Liberty have numerous layers to their motion offense.

And Harrison had never played in a five-out scheme.

It took time for her to learn her new teammates’ tendencies.

But Harrison said she feels more comfortable with what’s being asked of her every day.

“It’s like a light bulb. As soon as it turns on, you get it, you know where you need to be,” Harrison said. “Every day I feel like we layer it more and more and we make it more complex the more we get our chemistry together with everybody. But I’ve always enjoyed it. I love position-less basketball because you don’t get stuck on one side of the floor, you’re not looking for one person to score, everybody’s pretty much involved and we have the personnel to really do that.”

Harrison stepped up when Jonquel Jones went down with an injury in Thursday’s win.

She’ll play an important role, too, when Nyara Sabally and Leonie Fiebich leave later this month for EuroBasket.

Harrison has earned the trust of her teammates and coaches.

She’s committed to doing whatever it takes to win.