MSUB SPORTS – With 11 minutes gone in a 2014 Great Northwest Athletic Conference game against Central Washington University last year, then-junior guard for Montana State University Billings Annie DePuydt held the ball at the top of the arc, evaluating whether to take a long-range shot or take a few quick steps and pull up.
 
She ultimately decided on the latter, except those steps leading to a mid-range jumper never came. Instead, DePuydt collapsed to the hardwood in agony, letting out a scream that forced everything inside Nicholson Pavilion to a screeching halt.
 
According to DePuydt, the pain lasted just moments before she attempted to pull herself up off of the floor. "It only hurt for a split second, after I screamed the pain was gone," DePuydt said. "I tried to get up but I couldn't walk. I had never been injured before and I tried to keep telling myself that it was just a sprain."
 
In a state of shock, DePuydt had no way of knowing that she had just torn the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee. Athletic trainer Lindsay Sullivan, however, knew the instant DePuydt went down what had happened. "We call it 'the scream,'" Sullivan said regarding the one-of-a-kind response athletes have to a torn ACL. "She screamed 'the scream,' and you always hope that you're wrong, but when I went out there and did a test on her there was no ACL."
 
From nearly 800 miles away watching the live stream of the game, DePuydt's parents Becky and Brian DePuydt recognized what had happened as well. "We knew immediately what she had done, we could hear 'the scream,'" DePuydt's mother recalled.
 
In an instant DePuydt had gone from a productive starter averaging 8.1 points and shooting 88 percent from the free-throw line, to facing one of the most difficult injuries to overcome in all of sports.
 
For many athletes, an ACL tear signals the end of a career. Minimum recovery time for the injury is around eight months, but often times the mental aspect of working to return to the court makes the task seem impossible.
 
But giving in to adversity and misfortune was not a concept that DePuydt, a 4.0 college student, was familiar with. With the determination she had displayed within everything she had accomplished to that point in her life, she embarked on the most difficult journey she could ever imagine.
 
STATE FOR SACO
 
DePuydt's senior year at Saco-Whitewater High School, she had become a leader on the girls' basketball team. Perhaps it was the fact that she had three older sisters and had been around the basketball court since she could walk, but the role of leading the top team in the town of around 200 people came as a natural fit.
 
Her final season as a prep player did not begin according to plan however, as a case of mononucleosis (mono) benched DePuydt for the first third of the schedule. It was a trying struggle, testing DePuydt physically and mentally. When she finally returned to the court, it was apparent that she was not the same player.
 
"I really struggled at first and I wasn't up to my standards," DePuydt remembered. "When the district tournament rolled around, my coach sat down and talked to me, and that really helped me turn it around."
 
Amber Erickson, a former student-athlete at MSUB and member of the 1998-99 NCAA Division II Elite Eight squad, sat down with DePuydt to share a simple, powerful message. "I told her that if she didn't score in double-digits in every game that we weren't going to make it to state," Erickson said. "After that she went into this two-week zone where she was unstoppable, and she took over the game when she wanted to."
 
By the time the Panthers had advanced to the state tournament, mono was nothing more than an afterthought for DePuydt. The team had suffered a loss at the divisional level, so the road to the state tournament was through a difficult challenge-game. "We won that game by about 30 points, and then at state every game was pretty close but we were just clicking," recalled DePuydt.
 
The run culminated in the first-ever state championship – in any sport – for Saco-Whitewater, and it was DePuydt's ability to overcome missing the first part of the season and elevate her game that was a key factor.
 

THING 1 AND THING 2
 
Immediately after the completion of the 2011 Treasure State Classic women's basketball game, MSUB head coach Kevin Woodin took the liberty of introducing two of his new recruits to one another. The annual game serves as a platform to bring together high school girls from across the state of Montana, and it was the first time DePuydt crossed paths with Billings native and soon-to-be Yellowjacket Janiel Olson.
                           
"We were playing against each other and I remember she was just one of those pesky guards," Olson said regarding DePuydt. "Kevin came up after the game and said, 'I'd like to introduce you to one of your future teammates,' and it was her."
 
The duo had no way of knowing that they would end up sharing a unique bond and become the closest of friends, but at first it was being teammates as Yellowjackets and sharing the same academic course of study that brought DePuydt and Olson together.
 
"Sophomore and junior year we started getting really close and by then we were both starting," Olson said. "At first she was just Innocent Annie who couldn't hurt a fly."
 
Just as the two were beginning to click and help the 'Jackets assume the top spot in the GNAC standings, DePuydt went down. "I had never heard Annie scream like that, and I knew something was wrong," Olson said. "The hardest part was playing a game knowing that something terrible had just happened to your teammate. None of us had ever been through an ACL, and in her head I think she thought she was fine."
 
Just over one month later, with one second left in a road game against Western Oregon, it was Olson who let out 'the scream.' The ACL in her left knee had given out, and the already-close bond she had with DePuydt was about to become a lot stronger.
 
"The hardest thing was the rehab, and it was a very long, rough road to recovery," DePuydt said. "After surgery there were days when I would spend six to eight hours in the training room with Lindsay, icing and just trying to lift my leg. Without Lindsay I wouldn't be where I am today."
 
Fast-forward four months later and DePuydt had progressed to the point where she could fully support herself and walk normally. "The same day that I got to run was the day that I got to shoot for the first time," said DePuydt. "I'm pretty sure I made the first shot and then missed the next twenty. That's when it got more exciting because I was able to be more active."
 
While Olson was a few months behind DePuydt in terms of recovery, the two were each other's biggest support throughout the summer, both physically with rehab and handling the mental strain associated with the injury. At times DePuydt would show up at Olson's house and the two would share tears of frustration as they struggled to cope.
 
"At the beginning having me there really helped Janiel I think," DePuydt said. "Even though I was two months ahead of her, we still did our workouts together and held each other accountable. Our relationship strengthened because of it."
 
"While we were rehabbing people would call us 'Thing 1 and Thing 2,'" Olson said with a grin as she recalled the two limping from location to location in synchrony. "We are a perfect balance for each other, and Annie never failed to sense when something was wrong, to pick me up and be my rock."
 
FLYING WITH THE 'JACKETS
 
DePuydt's decision to attend MSUB hinged dually on the opportunity to play basketball and her earning the most prestigious scholarship the university has to offer in the Chancellor's Excellence Award.
 
The award is something DePuydt has represented to the fullest, completing three-and-a-half years of her degree to this point with a perfect 4.0 grade point average.
 
"Academically we have been very successful as a team, but Annie is among the best of the best that we have ever had," said Woodin. "I can't imagine how anyone can get a 4.0 while also competing in basketball at this level. It is a tribute to her work ethic, and she has definitely earned all of the academic accolades she has received."
 
DePuydt is working on a dual degree in business management and marketing, and cites the influence of her parents as being most impactful towards her academic success. "Both of my parents earned degrees in college and they have always

instilled a strong work ethic in me," DePuydt said. "All three of my sisters were valedictorians before me in high school, and I really benefitted from growing up in a smaller school and getting to know my teachers."
 
"Annie has worked hard and it is exciting to see her success within her academics and on the court," Becky DePuydt said. "I'm sure that she is going to be successful in whatever job she obtains."
 
While DePuydt at first did not have her mind made up to become a Yellowjacket, it was with Erickson's help that she and Coach Woodin mutually agreed that the program would be a good fit. "I knew after about a month during her freshman year that we had made the right decision in bringing her here," Woodin said. "She just put out this relentless effort all the time in practice and fundamentally she had a really sound base."
 
"Coach Woodin is like your second dad, and I could tell that he just cared so much about his players," DePuydt said. "He was there when we got the news about my ACL, and he just told me he believed in me and that I would come back even stronger."
 
Erickson, who first met Woodin when he was a volunteer assistant during her playing days, encouraged DePuydt to pursue the game at the college level. "I didn't know at first if she wanted to keep playing but I told her that she would do great and wouldn't regret it," Erickson said. "After her phenomenal divisional and state tournament run her senior year it all sort of fell into place. I was persistent in having her go there and was happy that she was able to experience what I was able to when I played at MSUB."
 
FEARLESS
 
Visit Alterowitz Gym Saturday evening to watch the Yellowjackets take on GNAC opponent Seattle Pacific, and among the starting five for the navy and gold you'll see a smiling, determined number 34 rise up off of the bench upon her introduction.
 
"All along I wanted one of my daughters to play college ball, and with Brianne I had high hopes," said Brian DePuydt referring to his youngest daughter by her given name. "She has always been a hard worker and whatever she has done she's given it 110 percent. I'm just so glad that she is able to go out and play again, and we were hoping that she would make the most of her senior year. Watching her and the rest of the team and getting to know all of the great parents, it has been a fun four years for us."
 
The night DePuydt tore her ACL Brian and his wife received multiple phone calls from parents who were at the game offering to help in any way they could. One even offered to fly their daughter back to Montana that evening after the game.
 
DePuydt's options may have been limited immediately following her injury, but leaving her teammates behind was never among them. DePuydt remained with the team for the rest of the road trip, traveling by bus to Northwest Nazarene for a game two nights later before returning to Billings. It was the notion of staying with her family of teammates that displayed her true sense of commitment and loyalty.
 
"At practice last week, Annie went down pretty hard and it scared her a lot," Sullivan said. "She was fine, but I sat down with her and asked her what she was afraid of after all of the work she had done to get back to this point. She couldn't really come up with an answer, so I said, 'what does that make you?' Annie responded, 'fearless.'"
 
All along, deep down, it's a trait that DePuydt has possessed at her most inner core. Never has it shown stronger than now.