Who knew?
Not this reporter.
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Sure, I was aware Brooke Heiman was the all-time leading scorer for Indian Creek and the Little Ten Conference with 2,124 points before she joined the Waubonsee Community College women’s basketball program last season.
What I didn’t know before scanning the Chiefs’ roster this week to prepare for this update?
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Heiman came to WCC’s Sugar Grove campus Straight Outta Compton.
Groan. Sorry for the lame grandpa joke.
Waubonsee coach Jim Williams hasn’t expanded his recruiting to include the Los Angeles area and hometown of Ice Cube, Venus and Serena Williams and Kevin Costner.
Heiman is from Compton, all right, but it’s the small village of about 300 in on Illinois Route 251. It’s west of Interstate 39 and the town of Paw Paw, which consolidated schools with Indian Creek following Heiman’s freshman year.
Thankfully, Heiman was polite. The 5-foot-9 sophomore guard didn’t even roll her eyes when I mentioned the 2015 movie inspired by the N.W.A. album of the same name.
“Oh yeah,” Heiman said with a smile. “People have brought that up.”
Heiman, who said she does love rap music, also loves to play basketball and still remains very much a small-town girl.
After verbally committing to Aurora University in high school, she chose Waubonsee after learning her perception of junior college basketball being for less-talented players was “insanely not correct.”
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Finances were a big factor, too.
“I was basically looking to save money,” said Heiman, who wanted to commute from home on the family farm just outside of Compton. “It’s an old white farmhouse out in the country that’s been handed down in the family.
“I have no neighbors. It’s very nice, very peaceful and quiet.”
Heiman, who has experience raising and showing cattle and hogs, took advantage of the concrete slab with a portable hoop anchored by cinder blocks outside to become an excellent free-throw shooter, converting this season at an 87.2% clip.
Being so close to the interstate also made for a quick trip up to Rockford to hone her skills playing travel with the Rockford-based Midwest Wildcats as well as trips to Roscoe.
That’s where she worked with Brandon, her older brother by two years. She also received individualized fitness and basketball skills training since seventh grade from Danny McLarty. He played at Rockton Hononegah for Jay Bryant, a former West Aurora and Northern Illinois standout, before moving on to Rock Valley and Nebraska Omaha.
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“It was good for me because my brother was taller and older,” Heiman said. “And Danny made me the player I am. I give all credit to him.”
Indian Creek coach Paul Muchmore said he was the beneficiary when Heiman became his point guard following the consolidation with Paw Paw.
“She plays so hard, goes fast and can just go and go,” Muchmore said of Heiman, who was the focus of all kinds of gimmick defenses. “At times early on, she was almost too unselfish. She needed to shoot more to open things up for us.”
Limited to only 16 games as a senior due to the pandemic, Heiman needed to average 25.9 points to top the record of Dee Dee Jeske, who went on to play at Northern Illinois in the 1990s. Heiman did just that, averaging 26 points.
Williams couldn’t believe his good fortune.
“I never thought I had a chance,” he said. “She’s pretty much a 40-minute player this year and one of the best offensive players I’ve ever worked with.”
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Getting to the basket has always been a big part of her game but that aspect has expanded in college.
Heiman led the team in scoring last season, averaging 17.5 points to go with 7.5 rebounds, as the Chiefs finished 23-6. She’s averaging 19.9 points and 8.8 rebounds this season but Waubonsee is struggling at 7-14, down to eight players and facing a more challenging schedule.
“It helps us playing better competition but doesn’t help our record,” Heiman said. “I didn’t expect to have the success I had last year, but I changed my role to a shooting guard or small forward and needed to rebound more.”
On track to reach 1,000 points for the Chiefs, she hopes to take that to the next level, landing a scholarship to a four-year school where she hopes to earn degrees in business and law.
Her dream school?
“I would love to play at NIU, but I know that’s out there because it’s Division I,” she said. “I’m definitely keeping my mind open to other chances I may receive.”
