ASU Women’s Basketball: Loera remains optimistic through injury-filled start to career

(Photo: Gabe Swartz/WCSN)

Jamie Loera was “super nervous” on the night of November 11, 2018, during Veterans Weekend.

Two weeks before, she was sleeping through the team’s closed scrimmage in Nebraska in a training room due to illness and stayed in the hospital for several days after with a 104 degree fever.

“It was terrible,” Loera said. “They put me on a liquid diet.” 

After recovering from a post-traumatic migraine for the next week-and-a-half, one that forced her to miss ASU’s season opener against Incarnate Word on Nov. 6, she was cleared to play for that Sunday night.

So how would her first game as a Sun Devil go?

It wasn’t just another home game against a lowly non-conference team.

Instead, Loera’s debut came in front of 5,600 screaming fans of the Navajo Nation in Fort Defiance, Arizona, against the No. 4 team in the country and eventual national champion, the Baylor Lady Bears. It was a game to pay tribute to Native Americans who served in the armed forces and was televised nationally on ESPN.

“I was like, ‘wow,’” Loera said. “I don’t even know if I’m going to be in shape enough to do this just coming back from being sick and losing a lot of my fitness. I went hard and I listened to my teammates out there.”

It would be a debut to remember for Loera (pronounced Low-etta). She only played six minutes off the bench but attempted three 3-pointers and knocked all of them down in the first half. She banked in her final three off the glass at the buzzer to end the second quarter, sending the crowd into a frenzy.

“The environment was crazy,” Loera said of the game in which ASU ultimately fell 65-59. “There was so many people, and playing against Baylor and those really tall girls you’re like, ‘Wow.’ It was really fun and I’ll never forget it.

“I didn’t even really think that, ‘Oh, I’m going to go in there and score.’ I just love playing and getting the opportunity to play, especially in such an impacting game for the Navajo Nation. Just being a part of that was super cool.”

Her performance against a top-five team raised eyebrows among Sun Devil fans. It gave ASU head coach Charli Turner Thorne a strong indication of what her freshman could give off the bench for not only that season but for years to come.

High energy. Perimeter shooting. Capable ball-handling. Everything looked promising.

But for Loera, the abilities she displayed against Baylor would not be displayed for much of conference play that season. Through the first seven games of this season, she still hasn’t touched the floor.

A partially torn hamstring limited her to just two conference games last year and compartment syndrome surgery on both of her shins has sidelined her to start off 2019-20.

The past 13 months have been difficult due to her slew of injuries. But, instead of dwelling on them and getting frustrated, the sophomore guard from Moses Lake, Washington, has taken this as a learning experience.

“I learned a lot, even if it was very few games I played in,” Loera said. “I wouldn’t trade it because the adversity helped me and I had the support. It was a fun year. I experienced some cool basketball and I got to learn from seniors who are very experienced so I’ve held onto that. When I get back onto the court, I’m definitely going to use that and build on it with my new team.”

Turner Thorne empathizes with “J-Lo” and her sophomore guard.

“I think it definitely makes kids tougher but you can’t put into words how frustrating it is for them to not play and not be a part of the team,” Turner Thorne said. “We don’t usually get overuse injuries and stuff like that. It’s been hard on all of us. At this point, we all just want J-Lo to be on the court regardless of how much she can play but just to be on the court with us.”

After Christmas break of 2018, Loera took a wrong step during the first practice back and could barely move for the rest of the workout. An MRI determined it was a partial tear to her hamstring, sidelining her for two to four weeks.

She played in only two conference games in February for a combined 14 minutes. Loera didn’t feel right physically. Toward the end of the season, Turner Thorne had already established a rotation, making it difficult to find Loera playing time.

“She wasn’t herself,” Turner Thorne said. “She wasn’t 100 percent. She was cleared to play but you know, she’s a freshman who has basically been out the entire year and we’re going to postseason. It was going to be hard for her as a freshman.”

With only 11 games under her belt in her first season, Loera still maintained her high energy on the bench, serving as another coach and set of eyes to help her teammates.

“You can learn basketball even if you’re not playing a single minute but your team makes it to the Sweet Sixteen,” Loera said. “I learned so much just watching the girls finishing games hard. I would take that over going out on a team and being a 30-point scorer but we’re not making it to these big tournaments. I want to learn and I want to know the game more and I want to be challenged, make mistakes, and get through adversity.”

After the Sun Devils exited the Sweet Sixteen against Mississippi State in March, Turner Thorne selected Loera to go with senior guards Robbi Ryan and Reili Richardson, and sophomore forward Jayde Van Hyfte to represent ASU at the 3×3 USA Basketball National Championships in Las Vegas in May. The tournament provided her with more playing time but she dealt with shin splints during the competition.

“I didn’t have my trainer so I was just going to roll my sleeves and play hard,” Loera said.

What Loera didn’t know was her shin splints would turn into something more severe. She had two stress reactions in the beginning of June, taking her out of basketball workouts for about six weeks.

“Dealing with stress injuries is tough because it’s a matter of time,” ASU women’s basketball trainer Diana Padilla said. “You can’t outwardly see the injury. Everyone knows it’s there but some people still question it. There’s not much you can do. You can’t brace it, there’s no discoloration, you can’t put a cast on it. It’s just there.”

Despite all of this, Loera was still determined to stay in shape for the fall.

“My perspective all summer was, ‘You know what. I’m going to use this summer and get really fit and into really good shape, even if my legs aren’t letting me,’” Loera said. “Charli just talked to me about being grateful for this opportunity to work on my fitness because last year, my fitness wasn’t my greatest strength. When I got my hamstring injury, I lost a lot of cardio. This summer, I really focused on building my cardio, my strength and my fitness.”

Loera did not want to fall behind with fall practices and training approaching. Her preparation stayed intense despite her injuries. She did mental visualization. She did mental shooting. She listened and visualized Turner Thorne’s coaching points. She did everything she could mentally to be ready for the beginning of the season.

But another stress reaction in August put things on hold once again. She eased back into half-court drills in late September and early October but by late October, Loera could not get through a 23-minute workout without feeling more pains in her shins.

“I was just like, ‘What’s going on?’” Loera said.

On Oct. 30, she tested for compartment syndrome in her shins and it came back positive in two of her four compartments in both shins. The only route to rid the syndrome would be surgery. A surgeon would have to cut open the muscle compartment to let the compression and stress out.

“When I was tested positive, there were no tears,” Loera said. “I said, ‘Let’s get it.’ I really wasn’t sad that I had to go through another six week recovery. Just keeping that perspective of the positives of what I can control.”

Turner Thorne and the team was relieved to finally know what the diagnosis was.

“That’s what made it so hard,” Turner Thorne said. “We had a diagnosis but we didn’t have the total diagnosis. That was really frustrating for all of us but especially for her. We thought it’s just sort of this and you should be better and she wasn’t feeling better. When we finally figured it out after doing the compartment syndrome test, I don’t know if we have ever been so relieved that it was something.”

In 2018, Loera spent her Halloween in a hospital dealing with her high fever. A year later, Loera was in an operating room, undergoing surgery to attempt to rid the syndrome.

Halloween hasn’t served her any treats the past two years.

“I just have humor with it,” Loera said. “You just got to be able to smile. It’s part of my journey.”

With a little less than a month left before conference play begins on Dec. 29, Loera’s very hopeful to be back, but playing in games isn’t necessarily her top priority.

“I really think about not just returning to playing and Pac-12, but being able to practice again and playing the game I love,” Loera said. “That’s really what’s going to make me better and that really motivates me to get back on the court with my girls and do whatever I can off the court–talking and leading. I just want to play again and I’m not going to stop until I can.”

Rehab has been extensive and long for Loera, but it’s all part of the process. She started off with stationary drills, shooting five-footers, chair ball-handling, and watching practice. Now, she’s starting to run and jump again while doing some skill work.

None of this would be possible without her trainer Padilla by her side.

“I really would not have been able to get through it without her,” Loera said. “I just feel like she deserves a lot of credit for how well I’ve been able to deal with all of this mental, emotional and physical adversity I’ve gone through. She committed to us and especially with me through everything. She’s been there every step of the way. She means a lot to me.”

Padilla feels the same way.

“She’s super easy to work with,” Padilla said. “It’s just one of those relationships where she has to be fully trusting in me to be able to help her get back on the court and have the best interest of her in mind all the time. We’ve established that relationship. We get along really well and that works out to both of our benefits because it makes my job real easy but at the same time, it helps her from a psychological standpoint that she can feel at ease when she’s doing a rehab.”

One of Padilla’s goals this season is to find ways to help Loera decrease the amount of stress put on her body during practices and workouts in hopes that it can reduce the likelihood of suffering another stress-related injury.

“It’s just a matter of how well her body responds to the load,” Padilla said. “It’s also trying to figure how can she adjust to how she’s loading to reduce the amount of stress injuries she’s had. These happen for a reason so maybe biomechanically, we can adjust some different things that help reduce that loading.”

Loera’s close friendship with Van Hyfte has also helped her through this process. As roommates and best friends, Van Hyfte said she never saw Loera get down on herself during tough times.

“Injuries are hard and she was frustrated at times,” Van Hyfte said. “But throughout most of it, she was optimistic and always bringing others up. You think if you were injured or down, you would be down. But no, she’s positive and encouraging us every day. She was always there for us.”

Loera said she would not trade for another roommate.

“We do so much together,” Loera said. “Listening to music, cooking dinner, shopping for groceries. Anything you can think of. It’s a great friendship and I wouldn’t trade it for anything else. She’s my go-to, my ride or die. [I’m] definitely happy she’s here with me and she’s helped me a lot with getting me through these injuries and she’s motivated me.”

With Pac-12 play on the horizon, Loera could provide assistance to a crowded ASU backcourt. With the team shooting 26 percent from three, Turner Thorne said the Sun Devils can always use more shooting.

“We’re not exactly shooting the way I wanted us to shoot quite yet, so I think that’s a huge area she can contribute,” Turner Thorne said. “We haven’t been exactly the healthiest team this year. We do have three senior guards so we got to keep developing these younger players. We’ll definitely be looking to get her opportunities because she needs that. She needs game experience and we need her to get game experience.”

While Loera will be looking forward to being back out the court, she never set high expectations for herself upon becoming a Sun Devil. She’s a perfect example of a team player who will do what is asked.

“I didn’t have high expectations for myself to like, ‘Oh I need to play in this many minutes,’ and stuff like that,” Loera said. “Whatever way I can help my team and help them toward success whether it’s playing or not, I try to keep that perspective. Just trying to keep myself there and that’s just what motivates me as a girl.”

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