The funny thing about bruises is they can mean two things. Bruises can be signs of defeat or signs of progress. It all depends on how you look at them.

At River Forest, where senior forward Krystal Montes pulls back her sleeve to reveal a quarter-sized bruise, it’s the latter.

“I like to play rough,” chirps the 5-foot-9 fierce rebounder. “I’m a rough player. I learned that from my brother, Sal. He’s (6-foot-2, 230 pounds) and he bangs me around when we play against each other. No girl is going to be as tough as him.”

If she can survive those battles, Montes certainly can lead her team in this surreal season without a home gym. Same goes for junior Mikal Minarich, whose own brothers give her the business during driveway games.

“They don’t take it easy on me,” said Minarich, the Ingots’ leading scorer (8.2 ppg). “They want me to be aggressive, so I’m used to the bumps and bruises.”

Nobody was ready for the gym to burn recently. It was set ablaze by arson, and in the process, River Forest basketball took a blow. The bruising is still visible, with boys and girls teams planning for a season on the road. Practices are being held at the junior high school or Meister Elementary School. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.

Good thing the Ingots have such driven forwards as Montes and Minarich, girls who’ve been on the ugly side of hard hits.

“I’ve had just about everything happen while playing against my brother,” Montes said. “Bumps and bruises. Scars. Bloody knees. Scraped elbows. Busted nose. It was rough.”

It was preparation. This is Montes’ senior season, and there’s an outside chance she won’t get a home game. She’ll just have to deal with it, focusing on the future, not the past. It’s time to move forward. Time to do what she does best — rebound.

“People never think I can rebound because I’m shorter,” Montes said. “I go up against some of these 5-foot-10, 5-foot-11 girls, and they’re all like, 'Oh, we’ve got nothing to worry about.’ Then I start boxing them out. It’s pretty funny.”

Even Minarich gets a kick out of watching Montes, a whirling dervish. It makes her smile. It inspires her to help, to get in there and get some bruises of her own.

“I used to play wing up until my freshman year,” Minarich said. “When I got here, I had to adjust to the post. I had to get used to the pushing and fighting for position.”

Like Montes, she recalls her days in the driveway for strength. She remembered the bloody knees and bruised elbows. Enough was enough.

“When I’m on the court and I start getting pushed around, I just become more aggressive,” Minarich said. “Especially if we’re playing a rival.”

A rival looking to bruise more than their egos. Plenty of lumps lie ahead for this team, and we can’t be sure what they’ll mean until later. For now, they mean progress.

And you can’t blame the Ingots for wearing them with pride.