Meg Newman’s first year as a member of the Arizona State women’s basketball team was ripped away from her before it even started.

Newman, a highly touted recruit out of North Central High School in Indianapolis, Ind., should have contributed to a Sun Devil team last season that needed someone who rebounded the basketball as she can.

However, the ASU forward missed her entire first season in Tempe due to a knee injury she suffered in preseason practice.

“I think it was like day three or four of official practice,” Newman said. “We were doing a two-on-two drill. I was guarding Mael (Gilles). She tried to back cut me. I was backpedaling. I just planted, and ACL was just gone.”

Newman explained that she originally thought the injury was just a sprained MCL and she would only be out for a month. Unfortunately, the morning after the injury, she found out it was a torn right ACL.

Upon receiving the news of her injury, Newman decided to use it as an opportunity to improve on what she needed to work on.

“You know, dedicate a year to fixing my running form, trying to get rid of some patellar tendinitis that I’d been dealing with, and we accomplished everything we wanted to …,” Newman stated.

Newman said whatever she was allowed to do while recovering, she did. She started with seated ball handling and form shooting, working her way up to being cleared to return to action.

Major injuries like Newman suffered can take a toll on one’s mental health, but aside from teammates helped Newman following her torn ACL.

While she said all of her teammates from the 2021-22 team helped with supporting her following her injury, Newman pointed to the teammates she described as her “two best friends,” Isadora Sousa and Maggie Besselink, as her main supporters following the injury. She said it meant “everything” to have them backing her.

“They were by my side through and through,” Newman explained. “I lived with Maggie after surgery for about two months. (Sousa’s) been my right-hand girl since I got here.”

Sousa discussed why she became someone Newman could turn to after the ACL injury.

“I’ve been through a lot of injuries before, so I thought it would be a good thing for me to step up and try to help her just get her mind right because I think one of the most important parts of coming back from injury is getting our mind right …,” Sousa said.

The injury also gave the No. 33 player in ESPN’s 2021 recruiting class time to reflect.

“This last year has been really meaningful for me,” Newman stated. “And it really made me recognize that we play sports for something a lot bigger than ourselves.”

As the games go by this season, Newman is looking more and more like a top-40 recruit. She is averaging 6.1 points and 7.5 rebounds while shooting 54.2% from the field. She is ASU’s spark off the bench, providing energy on both ends of the floor.

“If I could bottle Meg up and just carry her around with me,” said ASU head coach Natasha Adair. “Her energy is so infectious. It’s so contagious to our team. You see her - she comes in the game immediately, and there’s a positive contribution. But that’s who she is as a person. That’s who she is to the core.”

On Dec. 17, in her first game where there were no limits on how many minutes she was allowed to play, Newman had her best game of her college career. Inserted early due to foul trouble for starting center Kayla Mokwuah, Newman poured in a career-high 12 points and grabbed a whopping 18 rebounds, also a career-high. She seemed to be everywhere all at once on the floor with next to no sign her knee was ever injured. Her performance helped ASU defeat Prairie View A&M 82-67 to end a 3-game losing streak.

“I’ve always kind of been a bit of a daredevil, and I didn’t lose that when I had knee surgery, apparently,” Newman explained.