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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Where she wants to be


Emily Hendrickson is a Freeman High graduate who plays basketball for Whitworth College.
 (Photo courtesy of Whitworth College / The Spokesman-Review)
Steve Christilaw Correspondent

Emily Hendrickson feels at home.

The standout basketball player is preparing herself for a second season at Whitworth – her second college stop since graduating from Freeman High School.

The 5-foot-6 guard with long-range touch gave up basketball as a freshman at Gonzaga University

“I was a manager for the basketball team,” Hendrickson explained. “I saw what it took to play there. It was totally and completely different from what Whitworth is.

“I don’t want to say anything bad about Gonzaga because I have a lot of respect for the program, but it wasn’t what I was looking for.”

Basketball at the Division I level wasn’t what Hendrickson was looking for, she said. The pressure to succeed and the heavy demands put on players to succeed are intense.

Instead, she transferred to Whitworth and was part of the most successful team in Pirate history – helping the team reach a No. 16 in the NCAA Division III rankings, a 22-3 record and a second-place finish in the Northwest Conference.

Hendrickson averaged more than 16 minutes per game last year and was the only nonstarter to play in all 25 games, averaging 3.3 points and 2.9 rebounds per game.

“The biggest difference I saw between the schools is that, at Whitworth, the girls all want to be there,” Hendrickson said. “We’re not getting paid. We aren’t on scholarship and we don’t get anything to play. We’re just there to work hard, have fun and get better.”

What made the season something special was the chemistry of last year’s squad. Whitworth was led by four standout seniors East Valley graduate Sarah Shogren, Tiffany Speer, Wenchi Liu and Dani Bielec, who started every one of the Pirates 25 games.

“That was not at all what I expected to find,” Hendrickson said. “I’d never played on a team like that before. In high school, I was always put in a leadership role and had to set the standard. It was nice to just step back. It was OK for me to just follow for a while.

“I think the best part of the season last year was the four seniors we had. They really led us. I learned so much from them. I learned that you can’t just talk and say what you want to say. You have to prove it, too. You have to go out there and work hard every single day.

“I love all the girls. They’re special in every single way.”

In a great many ways, she explained, last year’s outstanding success was a byproduct of the team’s chemistry and not the other way around. It’s a holistic approach to a game that Division I schools treat with a prescription pad full of scholarships and a steady diet of high standards and higher expectations.

“At Whitworth I think basketball players are developed from the inside out,” she said. “The coaches (at Gonzaga) pushed so much more, and the expectations were so much higher than they were in high school.

“I guess it goes back to wanting to be there. It’s not like high school, where it’s an ‘I’m-here-because-I-can’ sort of thing. I’m going to college now and I have to really want it.

Hendrickson said she learned a great deal of leadership, and about her own leadership qualities, by watching last year’s senior class.

“Tiff was a terrific leader – she played so hard every single day and if you didn’t do the same thing she got in your face,” she explained. “Sarah was a lot the same, except she was more of a quiet leader and preferred to lead by example.

“I think that’s more of how I prefer to lead. I’m not comfortable yelling at people. I would rather come in and work hard every day and let my actions lead. And I hope that, if I did have something to say, that my teammates would listen.”

A progression of basketball camps have invaded the Fieldhouse, keeping the team’s returning players off their home court, so Hendrickson and her teammates have been out of touch and on their own preparing for the 2005-06 season and a team with some major shoes to fill.

“I have to admit that I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what it’s going to be like without them,” Hendrickson said. “One of the problems with playing basketball at the Division III level is that there are no scholarships, so at this point I really don’t know who we’re going to have coming in as freshmen and we could wind up with someone transferring in from another school.

“Right now, I’m preparing myself to fill a starting position, probably as a No. 3 guard. I’ve been working on my post-up game so I can help out inside if I have to.

“Whatever happens, it will be fun and it will be exciting.”