All the way back: Daniels twins return to court a year after twin knee injuries

The goal was to get in five more seasons — basketball, then tennis, then flag football, basketball and tennis one more time. Cassidy and Cadence Daniels were juniors at Glacier and they had plans.

Then came Jan. 10, 2025; and 20 days later, Jan. 30.  

“Same injury, different leg,” Glacier girls basketball coach Amanda Cram said.  

Torn anterior ligament, torn meniscus, partially torn MCL. It happened to Cadence first, in a girls basketball game against Helena High. 

“We were on offense and they got a steal,” she said. “I was trailing behind the girl going for the fast break. She jump-stopped and I also tried to stop and planted on my right foot and my whole knee just blew out.” 

On the bench was Cassidy; she’d just subbed out for her twin.  

“After she went down, I just thought, “What if she didn’t sub in for me,’ “she said. “I just started praying. People always say when you’re twins, you feel the same thing, and I always said, ‘Not necessarily.’ But my right knee was throbbing and I was like, ‘What the heck?’  

“Just kind of a crazy twin thing. And then I had to sub back in for her.” 

Cassidy Daniels scored 11 points in Glacier’s 64-60 that day, putting the Wolfpack’s record at 3-2. They took a 5-4 mark into their game at Missoula Hellgate. 

“I was pressing full-court,” Cassidy said. “Pushing her from sideline to sideline and there was a screen and I wasn’t aware and just felt this crazy pain.” 

Though she was moving to her right, the opposite leg took the brunt: Cassidy, the mirror image of her twin, had torn up her left knee. 

“My trainers and my surgeon watched the video and said, ‘I don’t know how this happened,’ she said. “But I just felt that burning, stabbing pain.” 

On the bench was Cadence Daniels. 

“We were at Hellgate and I saw her get screened,” Cadence said. “It was a secondary hit, and I immediately knew. All my teammates were trying to calm me down – she's fine, she didn’t hurt herself that bad” — but I knew.” 

It was a double-bummer: Two kids who saw their tennis season — they'd advanced to the State AA tournament in doubles as freshmen and sophomores — go up in smoke. Same with flag football in the fall. 

That’s not to mention the basketball team was pretty danged good. 

“They’re great basketball players and last year, certainly, they were poised to be influential with a pretty dominant team,” Cram, whose team ended up 9-11, said. Cassidy Daniels was averaging 7.1 points and five rebounds when she was hurt; Cadence was at 3.4 and 2.6. 

Now they were looking at twin surgeries and countless hours of rehabilitation. There was really no other plan. 

“No option,” Cadence said. “No quitting. Constantly hitting the gym, hitting therapy really hard, and we knew we were not going to give up. And we had a tremendous support group helping us to come back and do what we love most, which is sports.”   

“We’d push each other in physical therapy and push each other in the gym,” Cassidy said, “because we knew we weren’t going to let this stop us from our goal of playing sports.” 

On Jan. 16, in a 55-43 loss to Missoula Sentinel, Cassidy and Cadence Daniels got back on the hardwood. They continue to mix into a rotation that was pretty thin; Cram noted they weren’t cleared until they were ready-ready — that is, no minutes restriction. 

“Once they were cleared; they were fully cleared,” she said. “Holding the reins on a couple of kids that have not stepped on a court for a full year is tough. I eased them into it, but they quickly showed that with all the work they put in, they were ready to play and wanted to do all they could.” 

The journey has led Cadence to consider a career in physical therapy. Conversely, Cassidy was thinking PT up until she got hurt. Concerned that she “would have to relive that moment,” she now is aiming toward radiology. 

The other side of the coin is that the season has been a struggle. The Wolfpack have just one win heading into their final home games with Helena (Friday) and Helena Capital (Saturday). 

“We’re a small team,” Cadence said. “Smaller than every other team other than Butte, I think. The girls had to persevere, playing with seven girls before Cassie and I were cleared. We were so proud of them for that. Not winning much is tough, but it’s not an option, giving up.” 

In other words, they believed. “We walk with God and our faith,” Cadence said. 

“We knew this season wouldn’t be the same; we lost our ‘bigs,’” Cassidy said. “We knew we’d never be given a game or practice that was easy, but from my perspective I was never going to give up. I was so thankful to be out on the court with these girls again. 

“It changed the perspective of my entire life. I’ll never take anything for granted the rest of my life.”