03.08.06 - 12:40 pm

Noe searching for confidence
Jos� E. Garcia
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 4, 2006 12:00 AM
SAN JOSE - Jill Noe's honesty is evident when discussing the mental hurdle over which she keeps tripping.

She admits doing the bare minimum at times during practice and games this regular season. It happens when the soreness in her left knee reminds her of the two vivid days that took two collegiate basketball seasons away.

Noe returned to action for Arizona State this season, but she's not fully back. Her mind won't let her stop wanting to protect the knee and the anterior cruciate ligament that tore twice within eight months.
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It carried over to the court, where the junior struggled to regain her confidence and to make shots consistently. Noe will play today in a Pac-10 Tournament quarterfinal game in San Jose against Oregon State, hoping to forget the past for at least two hours.

She wants to experience the freedom of playing without fear more often.

"I think I could have gone a lot harder this season," Noe said. "I struggled with my confidence because of the fear of getting hurt again."

The reminders were constant. She hesitated at times to drive to the lane and when she wanted to shoot. This is foreign to a player who played with so much confidence as a freshman that she led ASU in scoring with 12.6 points per game.

Noe's shooting percentage this season (37 percent) is almost the same as her freshman season (39 percent), but she's averaging 19.8 minutes compared to the 25 she played per game three seasons ago. She's third on the team in scoring (8.3) and fifth in rebounding (3.4).

On top of the mental obstacles, Noe had to learn a new offense this season. Before the start of this season, ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne suggested that Noe see a psychologist.

Noe did for a couple of sessions, but she said that it's up to her to stop thinking too much and just play.

"Confidence comes from within," Noe said. "You can't get it from someone else. Sure (the psychologist) can give me tools to overcome things, but it's going to take me playing for me to feel comfortable with my knee."

Noe longs for days where the soreness isn't present and the shots are just falling.

It's happened on occasion for the 5-foot-10 shooting guard. Noe's best performances of the season came against the best teams ASU played - No. 1 North Carolina and Pac-10 regular-season champion Stanford.

"The thing that kills me is that I'd have a big game, but we'd lose," Noe said. "I'd rather score two points and win."