CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — When her high school basketball coach cut her from the team senior year, Baileigh Sinaman-Daniel refused to let that rejection, or the fact she was born with one arm, end her dream of playing the game that her childhood idol LeBron James made her fall in love with 15 years ago.

That determination led the 22-year-old guard at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to become the first NCAA Division III women’s basketball player with one arm to score in a collegiate game, said her coach, Martin Rather.

“I kind of just shot the ball with the anticipation that I would have to go and get it back on a rebound,” Sinaman-Daniel said of the historic basket that she made from near the three-point line, which snapped the net without hitting the rim. “When the shot actually went in, I was more so surprised.”

Rather immediately called a timeout to mark the moment.

“My first thought was, ‘That’s history and we need to take a second to pause and celebrate it,’” Rather said. “Everybody just swarmed Baileigh, giving her high fives, celebrating her.”

The Stafford, Virginia, native’s path to history was sparked by a painful rejection at Mountain View High School.

“I had played for my high school for about three years and my senior year of high school when I tried out again, as I always did, I actually got cut and the coach basically told me that I wasn’t needed on the team,” she said.

That led to two days of misery and crying, until she made a bold decision while sitting in her car.

“I thought to myself, I could do this in college. What’s stopping me from doing this in college?” Sinaman-Daniel said. “So, I started emailing hundreds of coaches and it didn’t really matter what division it was. I was just trying to get a possible maybe or even better — a yes.”

That persistence caught Rather’s attention when Sinaman-Daniel, a 5-foot-6-inch guard, entered the transfer portal after two years at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina.

At Lesley, Sinaman-Daniel has become known for her work ethic with the Lynx.

She has completed more individual practice sessions than any other player on the team, which is having its best season in 14 years and has reached the playoffs, Rather said.

“I think any team in this country would benefit from having a player with Baileigh’s heart on their team,” Rather said.

The achievement is particularly notable given the scarcity of one-armed players in collegiate basketball who could have served as role models.

“It is not very common to see somebody with one arm playing basketball. I think there’s probably about two or three of us in the collegiate level,” Sinaman-Daniel said.

Though there are few other notable one-armed college basketball players, the most successful is likely Hansel Emmanuel at Austin Peay, whose coach describes as “the biggest inspiration in college sports.” The athletic success of the 6-foot-6 men’s Division I junior, whose arm was amputated at age 6 after an accident, has proved limitations don’t define potential.

Since Sinaman-Daniel could not always use standard balance and ball management techniques used by two-armed players, her on-court success has required unique training methods allowing her to develop fundamental skills.

“Taking passes or giving a good pass or figuring out the right shooting form — I’ve had to tweak and adjust,” she said.

Sinaman-Daniel scored her second basket on her birthday, some seven weeks after her initial score, adding another layer of satisfaction to her breakthrough season.

The junior guard who was born with a tiny right arm that she is unable to use is studying psychology at the university just outside Boston and hopes her achievement will inspire others facing similar challenges.

“When people look at me, I just hope they see me as Baileigh. I hope they see me as a basketball player and also see me as somebody who’s willing and able to do everything that everybody else is doing,” she said.

Rather sees her impact extending beyond the court.

“We’re showing that we can both win and have really high quality players that might not look like everybody else on our team,” he said.

HONOLULU (AP) — Kilauea volcano began shooting lava into the air once again Wednesday on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Kilauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, has been erupting on and off for nearly two months since it burst to life on Dec. 23. The eruption has been taking place at the volcano’s summit crater inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. No residential areas have been threatened by lava.

The latest release of molten rock began 8:22 p.m. Fountains of lava reaching 300 to 400 feet (91 to 122 meters) have spurted out of the volcano’s north vent.

This is the 10th episode of eruptive activity since Dec. 23, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said. Earlier episodes have lasted 13 hours to eight days, with pauses in between. Episode nine ended on the morning of Feb. 12.

People have been flocking to overlook sites inside the national park for views of the eruption.

Kilauea is about 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast of Honolulu.

NEW YORK (AP) — Small business owners that rely on eggs for their products are facing sticker shock because the usually reliable staple is in short supply.

Avian flu is forcing farmers to slaughter millions of chickens a month, causing U.S. egg prices to skyrocket. The average price of a dozen Grade A eggs in U.S. cities reached $4.95 in January, eclipsing the previous record of $4.82 set two years earlier and more than double the low of $2.04 that was recorded in August 2023. The Agriculture Department predicts prices will soar another 20% this year.

Most owners are taking the increase in stride, looking at it as just one of many hurdles they constantly face. But if the problem persists, they could be forced to raise prices or adjust their products.

Liz Berman is the owner and sole proprietor of The Sleepy Baker in Natick, Massachusetts. She specializes in custom, from-scratch cakes but also sells cupcakes, cookies, pies and other baked goods.

Eggs are just one of the baking ingredients experiencing price shocks. Items such as cocoa powder and butter have gone up as well. And price isn’t the only issue.

“It’s not just the cost of eggs, right? It’s also just the availability,” she said. She prefers to buy medium-sized white shelled eggs, buying a box with 18 dozen eggs, but two weeks ago those were unavailable, so she had to buy brown eggs in individual cartons of 12.

“It sounds kind of silly, but when I I’m the sole proprietor and I have a huge volume of work, to have to take a dozen of eggs out of my walk-in at a time as opposed to a flat of eggs, it’s just it’s a pain,” she said.

She doesn’t think prices will ease anytime soon. Cocoa powder prices have been elevated for years.

“I think ultimately I’m going to have to increase my prices, which is hard because that’s going to mean that there’s a category of customer that won’t order from me anymore,” she said.

In Princeton, New Jersey, John Nachlinger, owner of the Bad Cookie Company, is imposing a temporary 25 cent per cookie surcharge to help mitigate added costs.

“As cookies are already a tight-margin food, these increases have really hurt our bottom line,” Nachlinger said. He said he doesn’t want to permanently raise prices or adjust the size of his cookies since he hopes the egg situation is temporary. “We want to bring value to our customers,” he said.

At Daisies, a pasta restaurant in Chicago, chef/partner Joe Frillman and chef/partner Leigh Omilinsky haven’t raised prices but are thinking of adjusting menu items.

Omilinsky said she is thinking of adding more vegan and egg-free deserts to the menu and has been working more with flax seeds. She said the shortage has made her more conscious of the ingredients she is using and wasting less.

“You know, if we need egg yolks we are absolutely saving those whites,” she said.

Meanwhile, Frillman said the restaurant has shifted to making pastas that use less eggs.

“We’ve just changed the shape of the noodle,” he said. “We use an extruder which is a piece of equipment that allows us to basically extrude pasta without eggs.”

Depending on how long the egg shortage lasts, they could adjust menu items too, he said.

“We have a pappardelle on our menu that’s been on since day one,” he said. “If this gets to the point where it’s just cost prohibitive, it’s very egg yolk heavy, we would then transfer to something like a spaghetti or a fettuccine that is a similar noodle that we can make without eggs.”

Meanwhile, Stephanie Maynard, co-owner of Ox Hollow Farm in Roxbury, Connecticut, faces a different issue: skyrocketing demand.

The farm she owns with her husband produces beef, pork, poultry, eggs and vegetables. They have 950 laying hens, with 300 more coming in March. The winter is generally a quieter time as the farm prepares for busy spring and summer months, increasing the inventory on hand until it is ready to sell. But this year, they’re rushing to increase egg production for customers at greenmarkets.

People who might normally buy eggs at supermarkets are turning to greenmarkets due to the shortages, and regular customers are increasing their orders just to make sure they have eggs, she said.

“We have developed a rapport with our customers. I know a lot of them by name and face,” she said. “And now you’re seeing people that you’ve never seen attend a market before. So I’m drawing a lot of new customers in to get eggs at the market.”