July 11
Positive attitude helps Lady Griz star Sophia Stiles in her recovery from knee surgery
Six month ago, Sophia Stiles was playing the best basketball of her life.
But 10 days later that life was turned upside down.
“It was really hard,” she said. “It still is really hard.”
Stiles, the former Malta High superstar athlete and University of Montana basketball star, is recovering from a torn knee ligament that ended her true freshman season. In Great Falls this week to help with the Josh Huestis Basketball Camp, Stiles said the rehab continues.
As will her basketball career.
“I’m not done,” she said with a smile earlier this week while serving as a camp counselor at West Elementary.
And that’s good news for Lady Griz fans, as well as the many Malta followers on the Hi-Line and beyond. What, Stiles was asked, would she say to them?
“I would say thank you,” she said. “I want to be back for this next season, but I’m not going to be back until I’m 100 percent. Both physically and mentally. I don’t want to be out there if I’m not able to play to my full potential.”
Stiles, a flashy 5-foot-9 guard with exceptional quickness, proved too good to redshirt last winter while playing for coach Shannon Schweyen’s Lady Griz. On Jan. 25, she scored 26 points – one off the UM freshman record – with a performance that included three 3-pointers, a 7-for-7 effort from the foul line, six rebounds and four assists.
The teen-aged true freshman became a starter the next game and seemingly a star was born.
“I felt like I had just started to play my type of basketball,” she said. “Then I went down.”
She paused for a moment and managed a smile.
“And,” she said, “that wasn’t very fun.”
Stiles was injured Feb. 3 against North Dakota. She had surgery on Feb. 27. It’s typically a nine-month recovery period. The Lady Griz open the 2018-19 schedule next November.
Will Stiles be back on the court by then?
“I think I should be, but I don’t know for sure,” she said.
Stiles smiled easily and often during a short interview this week. She did not wear a knee brace, and there was no sign of swelling to the repaired left knee.
“My ACL itself is doing good,” she said. “I’m part of a stem-cell study and I had an MRI at three months (following surgery) and it looked like the ACL was more like six or seven months along. So that is going very well, but ever since I tore it my leg sort of deflated. So now I’m just trying to regain muscle.”
She has been diligent about working to strengthen her legs. In fact, one day this week after a full day of basketball camp she asked to use the CMR weight room.
“I’ve got a little jog going, but there’s still a little limp in it,” she said.
Stiles has been a durable athlete. In fact she never missed a game during her high school basketball career. So last winter was long and hard.
“It just sucked to have to watch,” Stiles said. “They were struggling a little bit and it was so hard to sit on the bench and know that I couldn’t help.”
The physical limitations were only part of the problem.
“Mentally it was so hard,” she said.
Stiles was the eighth Malta player to sign with the Lady Griz, joining a list that includes Linda Mendel, Linda Cummings, Greta (Koss) Buehler, Skyla Sisco, Cheryl Keller and Juliann Keller, and Hailey Nicholson.
Sisco and Buehler were Big Sky Conference MVPs. They scored more than 1,000 career points at UM, as did Cummings.
Stiles? She could certainly achieve greatness before her Lady Griz career is over. In 22 games last winter, she averaged 7.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.7 assists and had 28 steals. At season’s end she was named UM’s Julie Deming Defensive Player of the Year.
That certainly did not surprise any Montana high school basketball followers.
After all, Stiles won two state titles and played in the championship game every season in her four years as a starter at Malta, a span during which the M-Ettes lost only four games. Always an exceptional defender, the 5-foot-9 guard finished her historic prep career with 1,809 points and was twice named Montana’s Gatorade Player of the Year.
She was also a tremendous track and field performer.
Knee injuries, of course, can be devastating.
But Stiles has maintained an upbeat outlook, often tweeting faith-filled messages during her rehabilitation.
“I’m a very big believer in God,” she said. “I try to put all my trust in Him. I don’t know what his plan is, but I’m hoping for the best. I just try to keep a positive attitude, because it’s very easy to get down in the dumps, for sure.”
Stiles had many college offers. She elected to follow a Malta tradition and join coach Shannon Schweyen’s Lady Griz.
It’s a decision she’s never regretted.
“I think the future’s bright,” Stiles said. “We’ve got a lot of good young girls coming in and I think we’re going to be pretty good.”
Scott Mansch can be reached at 791-1481 or [email protected]
Positive attitude helps Lady Griz star Sophia Stiles in her recovery from knee surgery
Six month ago, Sophia Stiles was playing the best basketball of her life.
But 10 days later that life was turned upside down.
“It was really hard,” she said. “It still is really hard.”
Stiles, the former Malta High superstar athlete and University of Montana basketball star, is recovering from a torn knee ligament that ended her true freshman season. In Great Falls this week to help with the Josh Huestis Basketball Camp, Stiles said the rehab continues.
As will her basketball career.
“I’m not done,” she said with a smile earlier this week while serving as a camp counselor at West Elementary.
And that’s good news for Lady Griz fans, as well as the many Malta followers on the Hi-Line and beyond. What, Stiles was asked, would she say to them?
“I would say thank you,” she said. “I want to be back for this next season, but I’m not going to be back until I’m 100 percent. Both physically and mentally. I don’t want to be out there if I’m not able to play to my full potential.”
Stiles, a flashy 5-foot-9 guard with exceptional quickness, proved too good to redshirt last winter while playing for coach Shannon Schweyen’s Lady Griz. On Jan. 25, she scored 26 points – one off the UM freshman record – with a performance that included three 3-pointers, a 7-for-7 effort from the foul line, six rebounds and four assists.
The teen-aged true freshman became a starter the next game and seemingly a star was born.
“I felt like I had just started to play my type of basketball,” she said. “Then I went down.”
She paused for a moment and managed a smile.
“And,” she said, “that wasn’t very fun.”
Stiles was injured Feb. 3 against North Dakota. She had surgery on Feb. 27. It’s typically a nine-month recovery period. The Lady Griz open the 2018-19 schedule next November.
Will Stiles be back on the court by then?
“I think I should be, but I don’t know for sure,” she said.
Stiles smiled easily and often during a short interview this week. She did not wear a knee brace, and there was no sign of swelling to the repaired left knee.
“My ACL itself is doing good,” she said. “I’m part of a stem-cell study and I had an MRI at three months (following surgery) and it looked like the ACL was more like six or seven months along. So that is going very well, but ever since I tore it my leg sort of deflated. So now I’m just trying to regain muscle.”
She has been diligent about working to strengthen her legs. In fact, one day this week after a full day of basketball camp she asked to use the CMR weight room.
“I’ve got a little jog going, but there’s still a little limp in it,” she said.
Stiles has been a durable athlete. In fact she never missed a game during her high school basketball career. So last winter was long and hard.
“It just sucked to have to watch,” Stiles said. “They were struggling a little bit and it was so hard to sit on the bench and know that I couldn’t help.”
The physical limitations were only part of the problem.
“Mentally it was so hard,” she said.
Stiles was the eighth Malta player to sign with the Lady Griz, joining a list that includes Linda Mendel, Linda Cummings, Greta (Koss) Buehler, Skyla Sisco, Cheryl Keller and Juliann Keller, and Hailey Nicholson.
Sisco and Buehler were Big Sky Conference MVPs. They scored more than 1,000 career points at UM, as did Cummings.
Stiles? She could certainly achieve greatness before her Lady Griz career is over. In 22 games last winter, she averaged 7.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.7 assists and had 28 steals. At season’s end she was named UM’s Julie Deming Defensive Player of the Year.
That certainly did not surprise any Montana high school basketball followers.
After all, Stiles won two state titles and played in the championship game every season in her four years as a starter at Malta, a span during which the M-Ettes lost only four games. Always an exceptional defender, the 5-foot-9 guard finished her historic prep career with 1,809 points and was twice named Montana’s Gatorade Player of the Year.
She was also a tremendous track and field performer.
Knee injuries, of course, can be devastating.
But Stiles has maintained an upbeat outlook, often tweeting faith-filled messages during her rehabilitation.
“I’m a very big believer in God,” she said. “I try to put all my trust in Him. I don’t know what his plan is, but I’m hoping for the best. I just try to keep a positive attitude, because it’s very easy to get down in the dumps, for sure.”
Stiles had many college offers. She elected to follow a Malta tradition and join coach Shannon Schweyen’s Lady Griz.
It’s a decision she’s never regretted.
“I think the future’s bright,” Stiles said. “We’ve got a lot of good young girls coming in and I think we’re going to be pretty good.”
Scott Mansch can be reached at 791-1481 or [email protected]
