• Allison Miles •
• Originally published January 22, 2009 at 12:14 a.m., updated January 22, 2009 at 12:14 a.m.

GOLIAD - An eery silence came over the gym when Raydean Mata collided with another player and fell to the floor.

Bruno Mata was almost on the court before his daughter got up, shook her head and gave him a thumbs up.

The elder Mata breathed a sigh of relief, but he wasn't surprised. Raydean Mata had gotten up from much worse.

Mata must wear a specially-fitted mask before she's allowed to practice or play for the Goliad basketball team.

The mask is uncomfortable and she constantly has to remove it to wipe the sweat off her face. But it's merely a nuisance compared to the six surgeries she underwent, the 82 stitches doctors stapled into her face, or the sliver of glass that remains between her left eyeball and eye socket.

Mata has only one explanation for why she is back in school for her junior year, playing basketball, running cross country and participating in track and field and cheerleading, while maintaining her grades so she ranks in the top 10 percent of her class.

"I just think that God has something planned for me and that's why I'm still here," Mata said. "I need to figure it out and just do what I can."

Bruno Mata and his wife could do nothing but hope and pray when they realized their daughter was about to be taken by helicopter to a Corpus Christi hospital last February.

Mata and four of her friends were on their way to watch a playoff game in Beeville when their car spun out of control on U.S. Highway 59 just south of Goliad.

Mata was sitting in the middle of the back seat and was wearing a lap belt, but while her friends escaped virtually unscathed, she was ejected through the rear windshield.

"It was a shocking sight for me as a parent," Bruno Mata said. "I didn't allow my wife to see her. I wasn't sure if she was going to live."

Mata suffered a broken jaw and facial lacerations and underwent four surgeries that night.

She miraculously had no internal injuries and was allowed to go home four days later for her 16th birthday. She had to return to Corpus Christi for a fifth surgery to remove broken pieces of bone from her sinus cavity that required a tube being placed in her nose so she could breath, an experience Mata called "the worst feeling ever."

Mata's eye surgery was performed in San Antonio where doctors decided to leave the final sliver of glass, but required her to return about every six months for a checkup.

Mata missed about a month of school before going back with her jaw still wired shut. She still has problems with her peripheral vision, but thanks to plastic surgery, the only obvious sign of what happened is a small scar above her eyelid.

Doctors attempted to discourage her from playing basketball, but relented when she agreed to wear a mask.

"I just looked at my dad like you know that's not going to happen," said Mata, a self-confessed gym rat, whose father coaches at Yorktown. "I just love the game and it's my favorite sport since forever. I've been hanging out with my dad and doing sports and stuff all my life."

Mata agreed to her father's request that she run cross country to get in shape for basketball season and wound up qualifying for the regional meet.

If Mata was nervous about getting back on the court, she hasn't shown it.

"She doesn't hold back at all," Goliad coach Ed Ousley said. "She jumps right in. She attacks the game just like she'd never been in accident."

The Tigerettes haven't had much success this season, but it hasn't prevented Mata from enjoying the time she gets to spend with her teammates, who watch over her and intervene when they feel anyone is getting too physical.

Mata has her down moments, but is thankful for the support she's received from her parents, friends and members of the community.

Mata has also maintained her sense of humor. The first words she said to her father when he visited her in intensive care in Corpus Christ were, "I guess this means I'm not getting a truck for my birthday."

"I still haven't got a truck," Mata said. "Maybe I'll get one for my 17th birthday."

Mike Forman is a sports writer for the Victoria Advocate. Contact him at 361-580-6588 or mforman@vicad.com, or comment on this column at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com.

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