Madeline Penney’s basketball journey over the past few years has been far from ordinary, shaped by setbacks, recovery and remarkable resilience.
A torn ACL that cut short her stellar senior season at Leon High School couldn’t keep Penney away from the game she has loved since childhood. Neither could the broken hand that forced her to miss the first half of her redshirt freshman season at Tallahassee State College.
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Penney fought through both injuries and finally returned to the court in January 2025 — nearly two years to the day after the knee injury that changed everything.
Then, just eight games into her long-awaited first college season, another setback arrived. An illness followed by a broken foot sent Penney back to the sideline, ending her season almost as soon as it began.
This time, the doubts were harder to shake.
As much as she loved basketball, Penney wondered if the game loved her back.
“At the end of the year, I was done,” Penney said. “I decided I wasn’t going to play anymore. I talked to Coach Dub (TSC head coach Chelsea Waters) and told her I couldn’t do it — that it was bringing me too much hurt and that I didn’t want to fall out of love with the game.”
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Waters saw something Penney couldn’t.
“She encouraged me and spoke into me and gave me a different perspective,” Penney said. “She knew I still had more to give, even when I had decided I wanted to give up. I thought it over, came back and told her I wanted to play. That was the best decision I could have made, and I have Coach Dub to thank for it.”
“Coach Dub” is likely thanking herself as well.
Penney’s return to full strength helps fuel Eagles’ success
Not only did Penney return at full strength for her redshirt sophomore season, she flourished — emerging as a key weapon for a resurgent Tallahassee State women’s basketball program under Waters in her first year as head coach.
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One season after winning just one Panhandle Conference game and finishing 9-19 overall, the Eagles enter postseason play at 16-13. They’ve quadrupled their conference win total and will face Daytona State College on Thursday, March 12, at 2 p.m. in the first round of the state tournament in Niceville.
No matter what happens next, this has already been a breakthrough season for Waters and her program. Under her direction, TSC has secured its first winning season since 2018-19 and delivered landmark victories against some of the state’s elite.
In January, the Eagles stunned defending national champion Northwest Florida State College, 61-59 — one of just three losses suffered by the Raiders all season. A month later, TSC followed it up with a 76-74 win over then-No. 4 Chipola College.
Penney, a 5-foot-9 shooting guard, played a pivotal role in that victory, scoring 15 points and grabbing six rebounds. Her final two points came at the free-throw line in the final two seconds, sealing the upset.
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That performance capped a dominant stretch in which Penney scored in double figures in nine of 10 games and 11 of 14 overall. The Tallahassee native enters postseason play averaging 10.3 points and 4.7 rebounds per game while shooting 39 percent from 3-point range. Last week, she was named First-Team All–Panhandle Conference alongside teammates Ashantay Noble and Kyana Poitier.
In Penney’s mind, the credit starts — and largely ends — with her head coach.
“Coach Dub has done a tremendous job for this program,” Penney said. “She’s instilled team principles on and off the court and put a system in place that sets the standard. We work hard as a team, and our goal is always to play for each other.”
Penny, Eagles open state tourney against Daytona State
It’s fitting that Penney and the Eagles will open the postseason against Daytona State.
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She missed the teams’ first meeting this season after suffering a cut to her hand away from the court. When the two squads met again in mid-December, Penney announced herself in a big way.
She poured in 27 points on 10-of-14 shooting, connecting on 7 of 10 attempts from beyond the arc. Penney also added seven rebounds, three assists and three steals as TSC earned a 98-89 road win — a rare loss for the Falcons, who are 24-4 overall and 16-2 in conference play.
As Thursday’s matchup approaches, Penney isn’t sure how many games she has left in a Tallahassee State uniform. She also doesn’t know where she’ll play the final two seasons of her college career. She has one Division II offer in hand and interest from several Division I and II programs.
For now, she’s not looking ahead.
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Penney says she’s content staying in the moment — grateful simply to still be playing, still competing.
“I think we can go far in this postseason,” she said. “We have the skill to beat every single team, and we have shown that in our conference play. When we play together, we have the potential to go very far.”
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Madeline Penney’s inspiring basketball comeback following injuries
