Clements accepting new role

The Lady Lion center is a team captain. She's on the cover of the media guide and the promotional poster. She's one of only two seniors on the team.

She's on the bench.

To create a more potent high-post, low-post combination, Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland decided to bench Clements two weeks ago for junior college transfer Clara Carter.

Clements, a junior college transfer herself, has to be frustrated. She'd have to be inhuman not to be. It's her senior year, the year that's supposed to be her greatest, but she's forced to watch younger post players such as Andrea Garner, Maren Walseth and Carter all get more playing time.

But if she's upset, Clements isn't showing it. Instead, she's one of the friendliest, most positive players on the team, and what I saw Feb. 1 confirmed my opinion.

As Penn State was being pounded by rival Illinois, Clements watched intently from the bench. Although she didn't see time due to the flu, she was still a leader. She sat there encouraging her team with a smile on her face nearly the entire time as the Lions repeatedly tried to come back.

It has to hurt to be on the bench your senior year, especially in big games like that one. However, Clements isn't pouting. She's not feeling sorry for herself. She's a team-oriented player who puts her team's needs above her own.

How many other athletes could you place in a similar situation and expect to stay positive? Not too many.

"She has taken everything in stride," Garner said. "She has handled it greatly. She still comes out everyday in practice and practices twice as hard. She wants to provide anything she can for the benefit of the team."

It can be argued that Clements has no right to feel sorry for herself. She's averaging a mere 4.6 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. Meanwhile, Carter has improved during the season, scoring in double figures in three of her four starts.

It sucks, but you have to go with your best players, right?

But what those stats don't show is that Clements is averaging just 17.7 minutes per game. That's not even a complete half of basketball. How is she supposed to put up big numbers if she gets less time than any of the other four starters or Lisa Shepherd, a backup guard?

I have to feel sorry for Clements. Given all the adversity she has faced during her career, she deserved a great final season. Her first two seasons were wasted as she tried to find a school she liked. Last season, she missed 11 games with injuries and four games as punishment by the NCAA for accepting a registration fee to play in an Australian league.

I have to feel sorry for Clements. She's watching from the bench as the end of her college career draws nearer. If she were injured, like Lion point guard Dan Earl, it might be just a bit easier because then she'd know her career was over through no fault of her own. Instead, she has to accept that all those years she gave to basketball still didn't make her good enough to keep her starting spot during her senior year.

I have to feel sorry for Clements. In order to play basketball, she had to leave her family behind in Australia to come to the United States. She deserves more success for her sacrifice.

I have to feel sorry for Clements. The world is a cruel place, and bad things happen to good people. Portland decided putting a senior team captain on the bench was best for the team, and Clements has to accept that. The coach knows best, that's why she's the coach.

Although her stats may not make her a champion, her attitude does. Young women in the sport should copy her attitude and look up to her as a role model, not just in basketball but in everyday life.

No matter how sorry we feel for Clements, she will never feel sorry for herself.