HOWE (KFSM) - LuAnn Davis is your typical high school senior. Her path to this point in life, though, has been anything but typical.
Davis was among the Lady Lions' leading scorers as a junior for the 2012-13 season as she poured in 14 points a game. But something was going on with Davis and it started before the season.
"I started passing out my sophomore and going into my junior year," Davis said.
Davis had passed out on three different occasions during games. She was taken to the hospital each time. Davis was released to play each time.
"I can honestly tell you going into games last year it was not if she would go down, it was pretty much a matter of when she would go down," Howe coach Chris Brown said.
Like every coach, Brown was faced with tough game day decisions but the decision to play or not to play Davis was one of his toughest.
"As a group we decided that if the doctor says that what she has is basically described as a vagal disorder and she would just pass out and then she would come back," Brown said. "It sure seemed like to me that wasn’t what it was, that she was fighting for her life but I wasn’t a medical doctor."
So, Davis was back out on the floor for the Lady Lions.
In late January, 2014, Davis was set for her final appearance in the annual LeFlore County Tournament. Howe was taking on Heavener when everything stopped for LuAnn Davis. And the entire county.
Davis, again, passed out during the game. She was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Tulsa. She was then transferred to Children's Hospital in Little Rock.
"Honestly I thought it was just another passing out thing and I would just be back on the floor. Oh I’ll be back in just a couple games," Davis said. "Then they told me I had to have open-heart surgery it was just like ‘oh, my basketball career is over."
Davis was diagnosed with a rare congenital heart defect that would cause her heart to lock up and shut down the blood flow when too much adrenaline was in her body.
Basketball almost killed LuAnn Davis. It also saved her life.
"If she hadn’t been playing, she wouldn’t have made it this summer," LuAnn's mother Jeanen Davis said. "That gave her only to the summer to live without the surgery."
Davis came through the surgery with the precision of her jump shot. But her senior season came and went as she was recovering. Davis missed Senior Day. She missed out on prom.
But Jeanen Davis wasn't going to let her daughter miss out on the best part of high school.
"We made the decision with the school’s help for her to redo her senior year with a medical hardship," Jeanen Davis said.
LuAnn was going to do her senior season over. And after receiving a waiver from the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association, Davis got to be with her teammates on the court again as well.
"That meant the world to me," Davis said. "Being able to come back with team and being able to play ball again, doing something that I love, it’s just amazing."
The LeFlore County Tournament was the sight were Davis went down the last time. It's an event her family will never forget. But what happened in last month's edition of the annual tournament will certainly be the memory of the even they chose to hold on to.
Davis helped Howe win the county title. She was also named co-Most Valuable Player.
"She captured the hearts of all the fans in LeFlore County as well as the selection committee," Brown said.
"It was a really emotional experience for me," Davis said. "It was just so amazing to be able to go through what I went through and be actually able to play again and play well."
Davis is averaging nine points a game for Howe. The Lady Lions are 22-0 and currently ranked No. 4 in class 2A in Oklahoma.