The Heart and soul of upstart Tommies

Published 12:56 pm Tuesday, March 2, 2010

MARYSVILLE — At a glance, Dacia Heckendorf is not physically imposing.

Heckendorf is 5-foot-9, not particularly tall for a varsity basketball forward. She has a slender build too, which, it seems, would put her at a major disadvantage against burlier foes.

But as soon as practice or a game begins, Heckendorf erases all supposed deficiencies. The Marysville-Pilchuck High School junior does it with pure, never-ending desire. She’s always played that way, her coach said.

“She is our captain,” Marysville-Pilchuck girls basketball coach Julie Martin said, “and every single one of these girls look up to her because she is one of the hardest workers that I’ve ever coached and has the competitive drive that you want in an athlete and the heart that you want in an athlete.

“She has the whole package.”

Heckendorf, whose first name is pronounced Day-shuh, averages 9.7 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game for M-P. Part of a balanced, close-knit team, she helped the Tomahawks (17-6) qualify for the 2010 Class 4A state championships, which tip off Wednesday at the Tacoma Dome. In the first round M-P, the District 1 runnerup, will play Garfield (14-9) at 7 p.m.

Here’s the crazy part: M-P wasn’t supposed to be here. In The Herald’s preseason coaches poll the Tomahawks were picked to finish seventh in the nine-team Western Conference North Division.

Instead, the young squad (only one senior) soared to the top and won a league co-championship, the first division title of any kind in program history, according to Martin.

Most impressive of all, M-P advanced to state for the first time since 1997.

“At first we were shocked (by the preseason poll) just because we know how we can play,” said Heckendorf. “But after that we were like, ‘It’ll fuel our fire. We can prove that we’re better than they think we are.’”

M-P clearly did that. Now the unranked Tomahawks will try to keep surprising outsiders in the 16-team, double-elimination state tournament. In three previous state appearances (1994, 1995, 1997) M-P did not win a game, going 0-2 every time.

Martin was a star player at M-P when the team qualified in ‘95 and ‘97. She played at state as a sophomore but in her senior season she endured a season-ending knee injury in the district tournament and had to watch from the sideline as her team continued on. Martin frequently explains to M-P’s current players how special their opportunity is.

“I tell them all the time, ‘It’s just an experience you won’t forget.’ But you can’t really understand that unless you feel it, unless they’re there,” she said.

Heckendorf, a 2009-2010 All-Wesco North second-team selection, is the only member of her team who has an idea what the state tournament feels like. Last season her uncle, Kamiak High girls basketball coach Jody Schauer, invited Heckendorf to stay with Kamiak throughout the Knights’ 4A state journey. She hung out with them, ate with them and sat on the bench during their games.

It was overwhelming, said Heckendorf. But this week will be even more awe-inspiring.

“I think being there, being a player, it will be unbelievable” she said. “We’ve worked so hard for this. This is what it comes down to; this is what we’ve played all season for. Now we can go out and show that we’re supposed to be up with the top teams and we actually deserve it.”

If anyone deserves this, it’s Heckendorf.

She is constantly inspired by her dad, Kendall Schauer, a former M-P basketball coach. He was the Tomahawks junior-varsity coach when the team reached state in ‘97 and then was head varsity coach until late December 2000, when he died of colon cancer.

Heckendorf wears No. 34 in honor of her dad, who wore that number when he played hoops in North Dakota. She also has two small pictures of her dad that she tucks into each of her shoes before every game.

Heckendorf fondly remembers shooting a ball outside every day with her dad. He helped her improve, always encouraging her instead of being critical or pushy. Other players loved him for the same reasons.

“He was quiet but got his point across,” said Heckendorf. “He knew what he wanted but he wasn’t the type who would yell. Players and other coaches respected him for that.”

Coach Martin and Heckendorf’s M-P teammates see the same qualities in Heckendorf.

“I tell her all the time how proud her dad would be of her,” said Martin, who knew Kendall Schauer very well and even babysat Heckendorf when Heckendorf was little.

That tiny girl has matured into quite an inspiration.

“She’s a natural leader,” M-P junior guard Andi Adams said. “She doesn’t really have to say anything for us to feel her presence.”

“She just is the hardest worker and a good person to look up to,” added guard Morgan Martinis, another Tomahwks junior. “You always know that she’ll be there to pump you up if you need to be picked up after something.

“She’s just an all-around good person, even off the basketball court.”