Waiting to return
Heidi Heintz aches.
The Central Valley junior forward injured her right ankle midway through the third quarter of the Bears Greater Spokane League game with Shadle Park.
But that’s not what aches. If Heintz had her druthers, she’d grit her teeth and play on. Without a second thought.
No, her ache comes from sitting. And watching. Helpless to do anything more than encourage.
“I can’t remember the last time I had to sit out a game,” Heintz admitted. “I hardly ever come out of the game, even. The only time I sit is when I get in foul trouble.”
Heintz came down after shooting a jump shot and knew something was wrong.
“I’ve turned my ankles so many times before that there wasn’t a lot of stretching of the ligaments,” Heintz said. “But I could feel right away that this wasn’t anything like what I’d done before. It was kind of weird because my ankle was sort of stuck in an inverse position. I kind of had to pop it back and that really hurt. I had no plan for getting up and walking that one off.
“It shocked me more than anything else at first – ‘Oh look, my foot’s stuck in the wrong position.’ “
The right ankle has been one of those nagging joints, Heintz said. She’d turned or sprained it so often that she habitually wore a lace-up brace for protection.
Heintz sat out games with Rogers, Gonzaga Prep and Thursday night’s showdown with Lewis and Clark.
“It was so hard, especially when we went out and didn’t play all that well (in Tuesday’s loss to the Bullpups),” she said. “It was almost as bad when we played Rogers and the game was close at halftime.”
The hope, Heintz said, is that one of her teammates will step up their game to fill in.
“I think that’s what’s going to happen,” she said. “That’s kind of what we did last year when Regan (Pariseau) would sit out. We have to find our personality.”
She hopes to return to the lineup for Tuesday’s league game with Mt. Spokane, a hope she does not share with her physical therapists.
“We’re going to try a special brace,” she said. “If that works I’m going to try to play. After Mt. Spokane, we have West Valley and North Central to finish the regular season. If I have to, I can shut it down and get ready to play once the playoffs start.”
Heintz, at 5-foot-10, has been a force for the Bears this season, averaging 16.5 points per game. Four times she’s scored 20 or more points, including a season high 31 against Clarkston.
In a year of transitions, Heintz has been a constant. As Central Valley moves from the end of the Dale Poffenroth era to beginning of the Judy Walters era, the team is searching for an on-court identity without – for the first time in years – a consensus Division I-caliber player.
“I think it helps that I’ve been part of the varsity from my freshman year,” Heintz said. “I’ve played with Emily Westerberg and with Regan Pariseau. I know what it took for those teams to be successful and I want to keep it going this year.”
Four of last year’s starters returned this season, but the one missing player, Pariseau, has loomed large.
“We relied on Regan a lot last year,” Heintz said. “If there was a big shot, she was the one who was going to take it – who would you rather have with the ball with the game on the line? The rest of us could concentrate more on playing good defense.”
This season started with a twist of fate: the Bears opened up against their district rival, University, to start the season.
“That was tough,” Heintz said. “First of all, University has such a great team, but that’s such a big, emotional game, too.
“But I think we came back from that well and have started to figure things out.”
The test will come in the playoffs, where Central Valley has a history of success.
“Being in the playoffs is a whole different thing,” she said. “It’s been so much a part of the program here.
“And I think we’ll be able to keep that going.”