Doing her part
To Heidi Heintz, the basketball practice floor at Central Valley High School is like New York City in a famous song: If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere.
“That’s something I learned playing with Emily Westerberg and Reagan Pariseau,” the senior guard-forward explained. “They always worked so hard in practice. It’s like they say, ‘If you practice well, you play well.’ “
Heintz, along with fellow seniors Salena Leavitt, Traci Goehri, Rachel Heinen and Sarah Gehring were all varsity players as freshmen during the 2001-02 season, when Westerberg and Pariseau led the Bears to its second of back-to-back State 4A championships. The following year, Heintz moved into the starting lineup as the Bears returned to the state title game.
Westerberg, a two-time state Class 4A player of the year while at Central Valley, and Pariseau, the Greater Spokane League’s most valuable player and an all-state selection as a senior, both now start for Arizona State University.
“I started playing AAU basketball when I was in the eighth grade,” Heintz said. “But I think I really fell in love with the game when I had to go against Emily every day in practice my freshman year. I had to guard her every day in practice, and I learned so much about the game and about what it takes to get your game to the next level.”
It wasn’t always an easy lesson. Westerberg occasionally schooled her freshman teammate in the fine points of playing the low post.
“Oh, yeah,” Heintz laughed. “I caught elbows in the nose, elbows in chin, balls in the nose, balls on the chin …
“I get a big kick out of watching her and Reagan play on television now, because I know how hard they worked to get there.”
Heintz tries to pass along those hard-earned lessons to her younger teammates. Aside from the five seniors, the Bears are made up of freshmen and juniors.
“We can understand what they’re going through because we were in their shoes when we were sophomores – especially Justine Bowman, our starting point guard,” Heintz said. “That’s a lot to handle, especially when you’re a sophomore.”
Heintz and her senior teammates understand the pressures of being young and a starting basketball player at Central Valley – having started as sophomores for a defending state champion that marched back to the title game.
“I don’t know how tough that really was,” Heintz said. “All the seniors are playing bigger roles on the team now. When we were freshmen, we had Emily and Reagan to turn to. When we were sophomores and we moved into the starting lineup we still had Reagan to run the show and we had Poffie (coach Dale Poffenroth), who was such a great coach. Now we have a lot more weight on our shoulders.
“I don’t think I’ve ever talked to them about what it was like to play with Emily or Reagan, but I think we do go out there and try to maintain the standard they set for our program.”
Heintz has done her part to help the Bears to a 6-3 start going into Tuesday’s third GSL contest against visiting Ferris. The senior has averaged 20.2 points per game, including a season high 25 against Lake City.
Friday night, Heintz and her teammates will play their final Stinky Sneaker game against University – this time in the Spokane Arena.
“I’m really looking forward to this game,” she said. “We’ve played this game at CV and at U-Hi the past couple years – it’s going to be nice to play in the Arena this time. We’ve had to turn people away. Now they can all get in and enjoy the game. We’ll be able to have both pep bands there and each school will have a big rooting section.
“It’s going to be a little like playing a college game.”
Heintz will know more about that next school year. The senior has officially accepted a scholarship to play NCAA Division I college basketball at the University of San Francisco, which ensures at least a once-a-year return home when the Dons play at Gonzaga.
“I want to study sports rehabilitation or sports management and coaching – I can’t really decide yet which one I want to go into eventually,” she said. “They’re enough alike that I can study both and decide later.”