“She was playing with a lot of fear and a lot of pain,” Delaney-Smith says. “I think she’s been devastated by it.”

This season couldn’t come fast enough for the frustrated Holsey, who underwent shoulder surgery over the summer to correct the recurrent problem. Her recovery comes just at the right time for the Crimson, which graduated four-time First-Team All-Ivy forward Hana Peljto and three-point threat Bev Moore last year. With Peljto gone, Harvard needs to find another offensive presence to complement captain center Reka Cserny.

And after having watched from the sidelines last year, Holsey is more than willing to fill that void.

“I want to be a scorer,” she says.

Holsey’s two breakout games at the end of last season—she had 15 points against Yale and 11 against Brown—displayed flashes of the prolific scorer who averaged 22 points per game as a high school senior. And despite battling the injury all of last season, Holsey shot 39 percent from three-point land, good for third on the team.

“I think I was more hesitant to shoot the three last year, because I knew that my shot was different, and it was streaky,” Holsey says. “But I’ve been working on it, and it feels good not to have that brace on.”

Without the brace, she has overcome any initial hesitancy at drawing contact in the lane. The cumbersome brace altered Holsey’s shooting form as well as her right-handed lay-ups, forcing her to shy away from contact and attack the basket less frequently. Consistent pain in her right shoulder made driving the lane even more difficult.

But Holsey’s confidence has soared since the shoulder surgery, and the guard’s quickness and penetration off the dribble should provide teammates with more opportunities behind the arc. Holsey’s speed has opened up 1-on-1 opportunities for her as well, and her emerging presence has teammates and coaches impressed.

“Everybody can see how good she is,” Cserny says, “and I think by now she feels it too.”

Despite the two-year delay, Holsey is beginning to live up to the high school hype that surrounded her upon her arrival in Cambridge.

“Although she did play last year and the year before, she really didn’t. She only had one arm,” Delaney-Smith says. “She looks great.”

A healthy Holsey will give Delaney-Smith more flexibility in the backcourt, and the coach hopes to play her at shooting guard while backcourt running mate Laura Robinson runs the point.

Point guard or not, Holsey’s just happy to be back on the court.

“I’m not thinking about the past at all,” Holsey says. “I don’t think about high school anymore, either. I just hope that whatever my team needs me to do, I’ll be able to do it.”

Two years removed from high school and one from a crippling injury, Holsey has far more to think about than the brace buried at the back of her closet.

She’s seen the sideline enough.

This year, it’s time the dusty high school record books made way for the Harvard ones.