NAMPA, Idaho – Avery Albrecht has always been a star on the basketball court.

She was the MVP of her league in high school, took La Grande High to the state tournament and signed a scholarship to play NCAA Division II basketball.

Under the surface, though, there was doubt.

Throughout high school and her freshman year at Northwest Nazarene, Albrecht had terrible anxiety while playing the sport she loved.

"I felt this irrational fear playing basketball or practicing," she said. "I knew it was ridiculous and that there was no reason I should be scared. Nerves are good to an extent, but not the extent mine were."

Anxiety is a difficult thing for people who don't suffer from it to understand. It can seem irrational and oftentimes outsiders may think they are helping by encouraging a person suffering to just push on. If only it were that simple.

Albrecht didn't want to go on medication, so her mom sent her to a psychologist the summer before her sophomore year.

"She helped me work on visualizing good outcomes and re-associating the game with the fun I have, not the nerves," said Albrecht, whose team plays the winner of Simon Fraser and Western Washington in the GNAC Basketball Championships semifinals at 2:15 p.m. PST on Friday at Western Washington.

Albrecht spends time before each game visualizing and using those techniques to help her calm down and get ready to play.

This method has certainly paid off as she is NNU's leading scorer this season, been named a unanimous all-GNAC first team player, is top 10 in the country in free throw shooting percentage and has the best 3-point field goal percentage in a single season in school history.

"I feel like she handles her anxiety and stuff like that better," sophomore Zoe Wessels said. "Back when we were freshman it was a false confidence thing and now it is real. I don't think she knows how good she is. On the court and off, she is the Selfless Monster."

Albrecht also credits head coach Steve Steele and her newfound faith with helping her overcome her anxiety.

She didn't go to church much growing up and wasn't sure about coming to a faith-based school, but it has worked out better than she could ever have imagined.

"The most important part is I came to NNU and pursued a relationship with Jesus and started growing my faith," she said. "I don't think it is a coincidence that as my faith grew, my anxiety dissipated. Now when I play, I don't really have nerves. I just have fun and I think that is how it should be."

Steele has always believed in Albrecht's ability. As the recruiting coordinator at Seattle Pacific he watched a lot of tape on Albrecht and knew she could play at this level, but the Falcons didn't have a spot for her. When he was hired at NNU he immediately started recruiting Albrecht.

She came to Nampa, but after her freshman season she found her confidence at what she describes as an "all-time low" and figured her time at NNU was winding to an end.

"We were doing our end of the year meetings and she came in and right away asked if I was taking her scholarship," Steele said. "I just laughed and said you might start next year and that you have more potential than probably anybody on our team."

It's a moment the two can certainly laugh about now as Albrecht has continued to improve in all facets of her game. She has always been athletic, but her ability to finish and shoot 3-pointers at a high percentage makes her one of the best players in the conference.

And it has the Nighthawks dreaming of a deep run in the postseason.

"I like to think about where I am now, just because of where I've been before," she said. "It gives me a lot of gratitude for my faith and the people God has surrounded me with here. I look at high school with my anxiety at an all-time high to where I am now and I can do things on the court that I don't think my anxiety let me do before."