Chelsea Marandola decided in mid-December to forgo the current basketball season so she would have two full, healthy seasons remaining to play for Providence College. She is comfortable with her decision.

“I’m feeling better, and the more you feel better, the happier you are,” the high-scoring guard from Johnston said yesterday from Alumni Hall. She did, indeed, sound happy.

Marandola is recovering ever so slowly from a herniated disk in her lower back. She suffered the injury during a workout last May and has been in physical therapy since July. She has seen a specialist in Boston and has had three cortisone injections. The last one worked the best, she said, because the doctor put the needle “right on the spot, but it hurt really badly.” She may need another shot.

Marandola spent the summer and early fall “trying to get better as quickly as possible” so she could play this season. She was not ready when practice started in October, and by the third week in November she was able to run, but only a little. Coach Phil Seymore and his staff started preparing themselves to play the entire season without their best player. He favored that approach, preferring to have her healthy for a full season than for a few games if she were to reinjure herself.

“It wasn’t worth it to me or to her,” he said after practice yesterday. “I thought it better not to linger on it. Take this year and get 100 percent better instead of playing what if . . .”

The competitor that she is, Marandola would set goals for her rehab.

“When it doesn’t happen, she gets depressed,” Seymore said.

Now, based on doctors’ estimates of a six-to-nine-month recovery period, Marandola is hoping to be healed by the end of March. Upon deciding to use this as a red-shirt year, she scaled back the intensity of her rehab sessions. She still feels intermittent pain during those workouts, and “running hurts, but not as much as before.”

The most frustrating part about being out is mental. Marandola was never seriously injured during her spectacular five-sport career at Johnston High, and she had missed only one game because of a sprained ankle in her first two year at Providence.

“And it’s getting worse because now we’re playing in the Big East,” she said of the Friars’ conference schedule that started last Saturday at Marquette.

The good news is that Marandola, always a shooter, can still launch the ball toward the hoop, just not 400 times a day as she used to. “Maybe 50,” she said with a laugh. She is also working on her free throws.

Marandola led the Friars in scoring (17.3), rebounding (7.1) and steals (1.7) last season.

Seymore is also dealing with the loss of guard Catherine Bove, a junior who averaged 11.7 points last season. She has been out since the third game with swelling in a knee.

“It’s still touch-and-go with her. She hasn’t done a full practice yet. She’s day-to-day,” Seymore said.

Bove could take a red-shirt year this season if she doesn’t play, but Seymore has not discussed that possibility with her yet.

Losing 29 points per game has put pressure on the Friars offense this season. The Friars won 10 of their 13 non-conference games but lost at Marquette. They could have a rough ride through the rest of the Big East schedule.

“We’re young in some areas, so we’ll be inconsistent in some areas,” Seymore said. “We’re just trying to figure out ways to manage this team to squeeze out a victory.”

Their next chance is Saturday afternoon against DePaul.

Area players aiding Assumption

Three players from the area led 12-3 Assumption into the Chace Athletic Center last night for a Northeast-10 rematch against 11-3 Bryant. The Greyhounds won the first meeting, 79-49, on Nov. 28.

Beth Plasski (Fall Fiver/Durfee) leads Assumption in scoring (16.1) and is averaging 2.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 32 minutes per game. She has started all 15 games. A history major, she has made the Assumption student-athlete honor roll four of her five semesters.

Point guard Trish Gardner (Dartmouth) leads in assists (5.2) and is averaging 3.6 points and 2.2 rebounds. She has started 15 games. A psychology student, she has made the honor roll three times.

Sara Czarnecki (Cumberland) is a reserve forward. She has played in every game and is averaging 10.5 minutes, 2.5 points and 2.8 rebounds. A senior majoring in biology and considering a career in medicine, she is a five-time honor-roll student.

Kerry Phayre, a basketball star at St. Xavier High School in Providence and Providence College in the late 1970s and early 1980s, is in her 12th year as coach of the Greyhounds. She took a 187-141 record into the game last night against Bryant coach Mary Burke, also a former PC star.

In another Northeast-10 contest last night, 8-4 Bentley, which has won four in a row, was at 12-1 Franklin Pierce, which had never beaten the Falcons in 15 encounters. Bentley co-captain Erica Kiwan (North Kingstown) averaged 11.8 points and 8 rebounds during the four-game run.

CCRI women return home

The CCRI women returned from their annual Florida trip with a 1-2 record after losing to Miami Dade, 63-53. The Knights are 9-4. Denise Scott scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds, her season high. Jillian Lewis (Barrington) contributed 10 points and 5 rebounds. Rachel Murray had 12 rebounds, her sister Jackie 8.

Coach Marcus Reilly said his team has shown “flashes of competing on a national level,” but those moments “must become 40 minutes of solid execution and defensive focus for us to reach our full potential.”

The Knights will play eight consecutive home games this month, starting with Notre Dame Prep Saturday afternoon at Warwick.

Garabedian ‘rookie of week’

Umass-Dartmouth guard Kate Garabedian (Westerly) is the Little East rookie of the week for her 21-point effort in an 80-56 loss to Manhattanville in the third-place game of the Marymount Holiday Classic. She buried five 3-pointers and was named to the all-tournament team. UMD (3-8) will play Keene State Saturday afternoon at the Tripp Athletic Center.

mszostak@projo.com