Knee injury sidelines Upper St. Clair’s Rylee Kalocay for remainder of season

By: Don Rebel
Saturday, January 13, 2024 | 4:05 PM

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The Upper St. Clair girls basketball program has dealt with a lot of injuries the last five years, but the Panthers still have played in the last three WPIAL Class 6A championship games.

The Panthers now have to overcome another devastating injury.

Rylee Kalocay, one of the top junior basketball players in the district and the 2023 HSSN Class 6A Player of the Year, will miss the rest of the season after tearing her the ACL and meniscus in her left knee.

The injury occurred in a game against Peters Township on Jan. 2.

“My initial thoughts were about Rylee and how bad I felt for her,” Upper St. Clair coach Pete Serio said. “She worked really hard this summer and came into the season in the best shape of her life.”

Kalocay has been doing pre-surgery exercises since the injury and is schedule to have an operation on both tears Jan. 22.

“Rylee has handled the situation like a mature competitor,” Serio said. “She is determined to come back better than ever. She has been a positive vocal presence at our games. I really appreciate her upbeat attitude and so do her teammates.”

At the time, USC was 1-0 in the section and 6-4 overall.

Since then, the Panthers are 1-4 with all four losses being Section 2-6A games.

“The players on this team now have an opportunity to take on a more responsible role,” Serio said. “We need to continue to get better every game we play from now on. When given opportunities, competitive players will rise up. We still have good players on the team, and our goal to make the playoffs hasn’t changed.”

Kalocay opened up and talked about the season, the injury, the surgery, her rehab and the big picture during the Rebel Yell podcast.

Tags: Upper St. Clair