CRETE - This summer, Crete all-state girls basketball player Kate Edwards has tested her mended back against the likes of Class B champion Seward and Class A Grand Island.

"Both of those games were pretty rough, and it held up well," Edwards said. "If I can get through games like that, I think I'm OK."

The 5-foot-11 Edwards just began playing basketball a few weeks ago after a stress fracture in her back ended her junior season eight games in. She sat 13 weeks after being diagnosed in early January, then slowly began rebuilding her strength and stamina with weight room workouts and acceleration training.

She sat out the first summer event for her select team, the Nebraska Twisterz. But Edwards, a South Dakota recruit, looked to be 100 percent in a scrimmage Monday against several Doane College players, a trial run before the Twisterz play in the Dakota Showcase beginning today in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Her ability to hit the outside shot, drive to the basket, handle the ball and post up was all there, even after a five-month layoff.

Edwards, a first-team Super-Stater as a sophomore, looked like the player who averaged 19.6 points, 10.5 rebounds, 4.3 steals and 2.9 assists in leading Crete to an 8-0 start last winter.

"I think she looks quicker," said Grand Island all-stater Stacia Robertson, a Twisterz teammate.

Robertson and Edwards have played on the same club teams since the sixth grade. The chemistry they've developed was a primary reason for deciding to play together at South Dakota.

"We just know each other so well and where the other is going to be on the court," said Robertson, a 6-1 forward. "We can switch inside or outside and give teams a different look every time down the floor."

Edwards and Robertson aren't the only all-staters on the Twisterz.

Karly Buer is an all-state point guard from Concordia, Kan., who has played with Edwards since the third grade.

Jamie VanKirk, a 5-9 junior wing, is a two-time all-stater from Sutton, and 5-10 junior Paige Hasty earned all-state honors after leading Holdrege to the Class B semifinals.

Also on the squad are senior guard Catie Dahl of Lincoln East, sharpshooting guard Natasha Mueller of Seward and a pair of Superior posts - junior Sarah Wood and senior Stacia Gebers.

Reach Ron Powell at 473-7437 or rpowell@journalstar.com.