Women’s BasketBall Rising to the top

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 one first-off-the-bench, leaving a solid core of players to help lead the team this year. “Our core started playing together as sophomores and are seniors now, and adding pieces like Sami helps.” However, Coach Heinzen is not refusing opportunities for other players to show their talent. Every player has played in a minimum of five games, with most of the non-starters playing in the 7-18 game range. He believes that coming in behind a senior takes the pressure off the younger players, knowing that there is consistency in experience on the floor.

I asked Coach Heinzen how he felt about the depth of each position, and his answer was extremely optimistic. “I think our depth has evolved. A few players are playing now that didn’t play earlier in the year and vice versa. Roles have changed as we have gone on. People have settled in and gotten more comfortable, but I don’t think we are done yet. There are a few players right on the fringe of doing that and given the opportunity in the next couple of games could help.”

His hopes for the depth of the program to continue are just as high as his hopes for now. “We have a great first-year class who are going to be awesome for us but don’t have a ton of opportunity right now. Cierra’s production level is at such a high mark that even Cierra at 60% is still an allconference Cierra.” This first-year class is following the same trajectory as the current senior class, and another strong Sophomore core could be seen next year.

As with any sport, outscoring your opponent is the only way to win. With this team, scoring has not been an issue, outscoring their opponents by 16.8 points per game. Even though scoring is important, defense can make scoring that much easier. Coach Heinzen is pleasantly surprised by his team’s defensive production this year, which he says opens scoring opportunities. “Taking a snapshot from October of what I think our team is going to be, just because we returned so much scoring. But defense has been our calling card, and it has allowed us to gap teams.” It’s like they always say, defense wins championships. Having talented players is not the only key to success. In high school, teams can get away with bad team chemistry by bulldozing their competition. However, collegiate sports provide a much smaller gap in talent; essentially, anybody can beat anybody. Because of this, team chemistry can take a strong team to an elite team. Team building activities are important to Coach Heinzen, but he only stays involved early on. They have a few designated days at the beginning of the fall semester for team building, but after that, it is up to the players.

“The best teams we’ve had have been led by players intimately over the course of the year. More of it is done outside of that one snapshot day. That’s where you build teams; the day-today, not the once-a-month.” Both Martin and Bachmann agreed with this sentiment. “If you see any teammate around campus, it always helps to ask how they are doing,” Martin told me. “You are still going to have your best friends on the court and off the court but making that connection with everyone is for the best.”

Bachmann thinks it can even translate outside of social life and into academics. “No matter what your major is, everyone has something to bring. Sami might help me with STEM homework, and I might help her with her homework. It is the same for all the girls on the team.” They both concluded with their appreciation for the strong relationship between Seniors and First-Years, telling me that many of the Seniors are very good friends with First-Year students, boosting team chemistry. As they both attest to, “there is no hierarchy.”

As the Lady Du’s look to make a push to pass up first-place Wartburg in the ARC standings, their relationship with Coach Heinzen will continue to factor into the final result. The players agree that Coach Heinzen is very approachable. They can come to him with flaws they notice on the court and the strengths of their teammates that may have been missed. This mutual respect provides a solid foundation for a program that looks to continue its success for years to come.