Typical of Stiles, she was squeezing in one last workout that Tuesday morning before her 12:30 p.m. operation in Syracuse, N.Y. She'd been in New York City the previous weekend -- her first trip to the Big Apple -- on WNBA business.

She looked up at a television, saw one of the World Trade Center towers on fire and recalled how close it seemed her plane had flown over them when she'd left the city two days before.

"I said, `Well, I guess I can see how that could happen.' I thought it was just a terrible accident,' " Stiles said. "But then the second plane went in...."

Stiles had played the last month of her WNBA rookie-of-the-year season with constant pain in her wrist. She'd never had surgery before, knew it was unavoidable and was downright scared.

Then, dazed and horrified as everyone else after the terrorist attacks, Stiles was asked by her doctor, Andrew Palmer, if she was OK to have the surgery that day.

"I said, `I better just go ahead and get it done,' " Stiles said. "But then I asked him if he was OK to do it."

He was. Expecting to remove bone chips and tighten tendons, he also found frayed cartilage and a torn ligament. All that was cleaned up, and a couple of pins inserted.

When Stiles woke up, she was sick from the anesthesia, alarmed that her wrist has been in worse shape than she thought... and wondering if she'd somehow just imagined the morning's tragedy.

"I was like, `Did that really happen?' " Stiles said.

Flying to Springfield, Mo., a few days later, Stiles said she'd never been so relieved to be home.

"I'm a nervous flyer anyway," she said. "It's always been one of my biggest fears."

Of course, Stiles is like that "Bloom County" comic-strip character who was constantly peering into his anxiety closet. Hard to believe someone so accomplished could be so worried all the time.

Then again, that and her charming humility have been part of what's fun about watching Stiles, who became the NCAA's all-time leading scorer in women's basketball and led her Southwest Missouri State team to the Final Four in St. Louis this past season.

Sunday, Stiles was back in the Gateway City, this time to throw out the first pitch in what was to have been the Cardinals' final home game -- before the attacks altered the schedule.

Stiles was stressed about making the toss. With her healing right wrist in a cast, she had to throw left-handed. Her parents, Pat and Pam, had tried to reassure her that nobody would care how bad her aim might be as a southpaw. Lots of people, they said, throw out lousy first pitches.

"And she said, `Yeah, but I'm an athlete," Pam Stiles said.

Stiles didn't do badly; Cards reliever Gene Stechschulte snared the low-outside delivery. Now that's over with, Stiles can get back to fretting about other things -- like how it may be at least a month and a half before she can shoot with her dominant hand again.

Bright side? She can work on her dribbling and shooting left-handed.

"I'm trying to look at any positives," Stiles said. "But this is the longest I've ever gone without shooting. It's driving me crazy."

Stiles hurt her wrist in her sophomore year at Claflin High, which was the last time she missed a game. She said it never bothered her throughout college, but she was pounded in the WNBA this summer with the Portland Fire. It took a toll on her wrist, but she played in every game.

"I know I'm going to have to change my game," Stiles said. "I need to shoot more threes, pull up for my shot sooner. Once you're in the lane, they don't call it very tight in the pros. I'll need to get stronger. There are just so many things I see as weaknesses that I'll have to improve."

She'll do that in a familiar place, back at SMS where she's finishing her degree. Stiles will work some camps this fall and winter. And she just might be able to relax a little -- if she'll let herself. Hah.

"I never have been burned out, but after everything that's happened this year I admit I was a little tired," Stiles said. "But having this cast on has made me appreciate basketball even more. I'll be extra motivated."