When the Xavier coaching staff spoke on the phone with Mariyah Noel for the first time, they knew right away that she was the perfect fit for their program.
“We all came back [from the phone call] and said, ‘She’s it,'” head coach Billi Chambers recalled. “She’s got edge, she’s got something to prove. She’s got a chip on her shoulder. She’s hungry.”
A junior transfer from Mississippi, Noel also felt the chemistry and decided to become a Musketeer — leaving an up-and-coming SEC team for a program that has long dwelt in the BIG EAST basement. Her decision to transfer to Xavier and play for Chambers, now in her third season as head coach, has proven to be foundational to the program’s ongoing rebuild.
“I’ve had to step into a bigger role being in this program,” Noel told The IX Basketball. “But I would just say my teammates and my coaches are just kind of pushing me to be my best and be able to lead this team to do what I need to do, because if I do what I need to do, then we’ll be straight.”
For Noel personally, the transfer to Xavier meant moving from an end-of-the-bench reserve to a critical starting role. Last season in Oxford, she averaged 2.2 points per game in 8.5 minutes per game. This season, she’s a top ten scorer and rebounder in the BIG EAST, averaging a team-high 15.9 points across 33.3 minutes per game.
Leaning into leadership
Noel was a three-sport athlete in Bonner Springs, Kansas — earning letters in volleyball, basketball and track. She’s a two-time Kansas 5A discus state champion. Perhaps due to her late start in basketball (7th grade) and her status as a multi-sport athlete, Noel was not a highly sought recruit out of high school.
When she accepted an offer from Mississippi before her senior year of high school, she had just one other offer: McNeese State.
The 5’11 guard never quite worked her way into a consistent contributor in the Rebels’ rotation. She competed in just 36 games across two seasons, scoring 66 points and grabbing 40 rebounds. She gained valuable experience against the elite competition in the SEC, but was never expected to be the team’s go-to option.
“She’s had to develop a ton, not playing a lot of minutes for two years and then being able to perform at such a high level is really challenging,” Chambers told The IX Basketball. “I think the biggest thing is her ability to put the ball in the basket at all three levels. Her defense is starting to come along a little bit more for us in the way that we want to defend, and she’s really trying to find that piece of finding more open teammates.”
Noel’s scoring prowess has earned her double-teams from opposing defenses — she’s learning to rely on her open teammates to put points on the board. At the same time, her teammates rely on her as their steadying veteran, a role she’s still trying to figure out.
“Being a leader isn’t easy — there’s a lot of highs and a lot of lows,” Noel told The IX Basketball. ” … You got to talk through a lot of adversity [that] you hit as a group, individually. I feel like I’m doing a pretty good job of getting my footing in, but again, like there’s a lot of highs, a lot of lows, so just being able to see how I’m going to react to the adversity, I think, is where I’m at right now — just taking it day by day.”
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Little by little, Xavier is improving and becoming competitive in conference play for the first time in over a decade. The Musketeers are one conference win away from their most BIG EAST wins (five) since the 2015-16 season. They’re also one win away from their most overall wins (12) since 2016-17.
“[As] a competitor, you want to be so much further along,” Chambers told The IX Basketball. “You see spots in the game where you say, if we could just conquer that three-minute stretch, conquer that defensive possession, you have a few more wins on the board.
“We also understand the journey, right? … [We] understand how big of a pull this needed to be for us to get here. And I love that our women are locked in to that journey. I love that they have positive mindsets. Every day they come out believing that they can win.”
Noel found her way to Xavier because she sought out a larger role on a team where she could have an immediate impact. As the season enters its final stretch, she’s finding her footing as a primary contributor and elevating the Musketeers in the process.
“She’s continuing to grow daily,” Chambers said. “She’s got such a huge ceiling, and so much great growth ahead of her, and we’re just excited to be along the journey with her.”
