From Charlotte Smith’s perspective, the play was perfect.
Although it may have seemed ordinary enough, the Elon women’s basketball coach said she couldn’t help but be overcome with emotion after watching her redshirt freshman forward Ava Leroux make a seemingly routine layup in the lane just after being fouled midway through the second quarter of a Dec. 19 non-conference matchup with Long Beach State.
“Everybody was so excited,” Smith said. “When she hit that first basket as soon as she got in the game, it was like we had just won the national championship. Everybody on the floor was super excited. It was cool that it was an ‘and-one’ because it gave her teammates an opportunity to rejoice and celebrate with her in that moment.”
Considering what had transpired over the previous year of Leroux’s life, the celebration was especially warranted.
Leroux was nearly killed in a Dec. 22, 2023, automobile accident while home in her native South Fayette on holiday break. She spent three days in the intensive care unit — and six days total — at an area hospital undergoing surgery and recovering from myriad injuries that ravaged her body.
Just 362 days later, though, Leroux was playing NCAA Division I basketball.
“It has been like a roller coaster,” Smith said. “It’s had its ups. It’s had its downs. It’s been frustrating, and it has tested her in every single way, but the thing that stands out the most to me about her is that she is such a resilient human being and remained a positive light throughout all the hardships, throughout all the frustrations.
“She never gave up,” Smith added. “She is a great living testimony and miracle, a wonder and an inspiration to all of us.”
Leroux suffered traumatic brain injuries in the accident. She said she was diagnosed with a brain bleed in the frontal and temporal lobes, in addition to shearing, of a portion of her brain.
In addition to her brain injuries, Leroux said she immediately underwent surgery because of a broken bone and several torn tendons and ligaments in her ankle. She said she also underwent shoulder surgery to repair a tear several months after the accident.
“It is so amazing,” Leroux said. “Just looking back on how much I’ve done and work I’ve put in, it’s just so rewarding to get back to basketball. It’s honestly been one of the most amazing feelings I’ve ever had. My first game back, it was exciting, emotional, overwhelming.
“It just made me feel like myself again,” she added. “After everything that I’ve been through it felt like I was finally getting back a piece of me that I thought that I almost lost.”
The worst night of their lives
After spending a night visiting with a group of high school friends, Leroux said she and one of her best friends, former South Fayette track and field standout Grace Howard, got in her car to head home.
Leroux helped guide South Fayette to WPIAL Class 5A girls basketball championships in 2022 and 2023 and a PIAA runner-up finish for the Lions as a senior.
The 6-foot-4 forward appeared in five games, starting three, as a freshman at Elon before the accident. She averaged seven points and 4.2 rebounds per game with a .483 shooting percentage.
Howard won WPIAL Class 3A championships as a junior and senior in the high jump and placed fifth in her final season at South Fayette in 2023 in the 100 hurdles. At the time of the accident, she was a member of Division I Coastal Carolina’s track and field team and had competed in her first collegiate indoor event at the 2023 Liberty Kickoff in Lynchburg, Va.
Leroux said she doesn’t remember the events surrounding the accident as the pair neared the Howard family home near South Fayette High School.
“We were literally 30 seconds away from her neighborhood, and that’s where it happened,” Leroux said. “My brain injury was too bad. The first thing I remember, actually, is a couple of days after I was in the hospital, like three days, maybe.”
Howard, though, can’t say the same.
“I remember that night, I was sitting in the passenger seat and I looked up and I was like, ‘Dang, that car is riding (close behind) that car in the other lane,’” she said. “I went back on my phone for like a split second and I looked up and all I saw was headlights. It was like a super split second and then everything just went black.”
Howard said she woke up in the car and another motorist had stopped to check on her and Leroux and call emergency first responders. She said when authorities arrived they quickly transported Leroux to the hospital but were then forced to extricate her from the vehicle.
“I never saw the guy that hit us that night,” said Howard, who sustained major injuries to her right leg including broken bones in addition to ligament and tendon tears. “My dad and my brother were there at the scene. I remember my dad was all choked up and talking to me.
“It was a night I’ll never forget.”
The road to recovery
In the wake of her surgeries, Leroux said she underwent intense physical therapy to recover from her physical injuries.
“I missed the second semester of last year,” Leroux said. “I was at home.”
The medical care she received was multifaceted.
“It was just nonstop therapy,” Leroux said. “I had to go through brain and speech therapy numerous times. I’ve spent literally an entire year working with physical therapists, trying to rebuild my strength and get back to the basketball player that I used to be. I’ve been working just extremely hard to be where I am right now, and I’m so proud of myself, honestly. I am thankful for the people around me who helped me get through the process.”
Although she missed most of her freshman season, Smith said Elon built a plan to assist Leroux in her recovery.
“A lot of it was away from the team,” Smith said. “Then as we got closer to thinking that she would be able to return, we tried to adjust our practice plan so that she could do some noncontact things.”
Smith said she is proud of the progress Leroux has made.
“I’m super elated for her and just incredibly proud of her because the average human being would give up,” said the 14th-year Elon coach who has the most wins in program history. “I’m just excited for her, not just in the realm of basketball but with the ability she has to impact and inspire others.”
Leroux said she has been inspired by the amount of support she has received in her recovery.
“Looking back at last year, I just remember everything,” she said. “It was just a very bad time. Now that I’m here with my family — I’m spending time with my friends, family, grandparents — I don’t know, it just feels very rewarding to be surrounded by family this Christmas. It’s just a lot better than last year, obviously.”
Leroux said she will never forget the care she received.
“I didn’t even know how many people that I had that cared about me this much,” she said. “They came, they showed their support, they brought me gifts, I don’t know, everybody was just, they were just so amazing. Through my recovery, too, my parents were there, my therapists were there, my coaches, my teammates — everybody was just around me. It was amazing and it helped me get through a lot.”
The road toward a full recovery has been daunting for Howard as well.
Since the accident, Howard has had seven surgeries ranging from procedures to remove glass from her ear to ones that repaired the broken bones and torn ligaments and tendons in her leg.
Howard said she was also diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“When I walk it’s pretty smooth, but there’s days where after a long PT and a hard lift, by the end of the week I’m limping again,” Howard said. “I haven’t been cleared to run yet, and it’s been over a year. There are so many boxes I haven’t been able to check yet.
“My body will never be the same,” she added. “I have metal from my hip to my ankle that will never leave my body. I’ll have to keep it there for the rest of my life now.”
The countless hours and pain she has endured has not gone unnoticed from many people in her life, Howard said. She said she is grateful for the support she has received from friends, family and her health care providers.
Leroux said she has been inspired by what Howard has endured this past year.
“One of the hardest parts of this whole experience has just been seeing her go through everything she’s had to go through,” Leroux said. “It broke my heart to see her in so much pain knowing there was nothing I could do to help.
“Grace is one of the strongest people I know, but seeing how this has impacted her physically and emotionally has just been so hard,” Leroux added. “Honestly, it has just made me and her even more determined to speak out and make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”
Never again
Leroux said the motorist behind the wheel of the vehicle who hit hers that night was intoxicated.
“That choice has completely turned our lives upside down,” she said. “Because of this person’s actions, Grace and I have had to deal with physical pain, emotional trauma, we’ve lost parts of our lives that we’ll never get back. It’s hard to put into words how much this all has impacted us. We’ve had to rebuild everything.”
Leroux said in today’s day and age, there is no reason to get behind the wheel of a car while intoxicated.
“This is just something that didn’t have to happen,” she said. “Drunk driving is 100% preventable.”
Howard said she, too, has found purpose in advocating against drunk driving.
“There’s no excuse, especially in today’s time,” she said. “There’s Uber, there’s Lyft, call a friend, I mean, spend the night wherever you’re at. There’s absolutely no excuse to do something like that when you’re risking so much for yourself and putting others in danger.
“In no shape or form was any of what happened to us necessary,” she added. “It was completely avoidable, completely avoidable. It’s not worth it to you or anyone at all.”
The path forward
In her first game back of the season, Leroux scored 10 points with two rebounds in 11 minutes of action off the bench.
“When I saw that video her team has posted it brought tears to my eyes,” said Howard, alluding to a social media post Elon made with video of Leroux’s first basket. “I know how much I’ve been through, but I know how much she’s been through, too. I think that her getting back on that court it sends a message. Proud is an understatement.
“For her to go out there and do what she did, just it really warms my heart,” she added. “She deserves the world 10 times over. Her going out there and being able to do what she loves, that was very special.”
Moving forward, Smith said she expects Leroux to continue to improve.
Smith said Leroux was released by doctors to return just before Elon’s Dec. 15 game against Southern California. She said she chose not to play Leroux in that game out of precaution and will continue to be mindful of her minutes for the time being.
Elon returns to action at 1 p.m. Tuesday with a game against visiting Lees-McRae College at Schar Center in Elon, N.C.
“It’s all about her physical conditioning and how long she’ll be able to sustain herself physically,” Smith said. “We’re just taking it day by day.”
Leroux said she is looking forward to again getting a strong grasp on her team’s plays in addition to improving her conditioning. She said she remains optimistic about her prospects this season and over the rest of her career.
The daughter of former Pittsburgh Penguins enforcer and 10-year NHL veteran Francois Leroux has plenty of toughness coursing through her veins.
“I just really want to get back to the basketball player I was before this accident,” Leroux said. “I’m going to try my hardest. It would be great if we could win our conference championship, so that’s something to work toward, and, yeah, just get back and play with my team.”
Howard has not been able to compete at Coastal Carolina yet. She said she plans to make a full recovery and return to her teammates and collegiate competition.
“Obviously, I want to go back,” she said. “I want to have that comeback story. I don’t want that night to have influenced literally everything moving forward for the rest of my life.”
John is a copy editor and page designer at the Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at jsanta@unionprogress.com.