Len caps off Souhegan girls basketball career with milestone, awards

Mike Heaney had a prediction of what basketball will be like for Mia Len next season.

The Souhegan High School girls basketball coach could picture Len joining the team at Wheaton College and immediately feeling right at home.

"Unlike most high school athletes, I think her basketball journey begins next year," Heaney said. "She’s going to be around 13 kids who really love basketball. We have great kids who are really good at other sports.

"In college, there will be kids who love basketball. They’re driven and working hard. This was the entry to it. I don’t think that’s true of most high school kids. For Mia, the fun begins next fall."

Len certainly earned it during her time with the Sabers. A four-year varsity starter, the senior eclipsed the 1,000-point mark this season, becoming the seventh player in school history to reach that mark, joining the likes of Courtney Banghart, Jane White, and Brandon Len, her older brother.

She was also named the Division II recipient of the Jack Ford Memorial Scholar Athlete Award, along with being named to the division first team, her third time receiving all-state honors.

"When I reflect back, I’m just so grateful for the opportunity," Len said. "When I came in as a freshman, everyone was great to me and they embraced my role on the team. It’s really cool to see to see how much I’ve grown, and it’s because of everyone around me. I’ve had such great teammates. Coach Heaney has been great to me. I couldn’t have been more lucky to have what I have around me."

The journey started at an early age for Len, who began playing basketball in second grade, not long after Brandon started playing. While she tried other sports over the years, by the time Len hit high school, basketball was the only thing on her radar.

"We would play together in the driveway and I just fell in love with the game and never looked back," Len said. "In middle school, I played lacrosse, tennis, soccer. I liked the nature of basketball. It’s a team sport, but it pays off individually, too, when you work on your game. The game rewards you."

After watching Brandon's high school career, which ended with him as the top boys basketball scorer in Souhegan history and a runner-up finish in D2 in 2013, Len never thought about trying to compare what she did in high school to her older brother.

"I was in seventh grade when he (was a senior), so I’ve always had people come up to me since then and ask if I was going to get (a thousand points)," she said. "To me though, it was never a lot of pressure. Once I had it, now we have that bond to share. I think if we were both boys or both girls, it might have been a little different."

It was a different experience for Heaney, who after coaching that 2013 team to the final, took over the Souhegan girls program the next season.

"Even when I got the girls job, I never thought about the fact that Mia would be coming," he said. "She was in middle school and was a good basketball player. It wasn’t until the following year, when for the first open gym for the summer, she shows up.

"From the first moment in the first open gym, it was her ball. She was going to be the point guard. That’s tough for a freshman. Freshman anything is hard. Freshman starting point guard is really, really tough. It’s a big adjustment, but she didn’t back down from it, and she hasn’t backed down from anything in four years."

During that time, Heaney tried his best to not compare the siblings, whether it was in his own mind or outloud at a practice.

"I realized from the early weeks coaching her to not bring him up," the coach said. "The first two years, I don’t know if I mentioned his name. It was only last year that I’d bring him up. I avoided that because I didn’t want her to experience that.

"Coaching Brandon better prepared me to coach Mia. I got much better understanding Brandon over the last two years. I threw him out of the gym when he was a sophomore. By the time he was a senior, I’d just let him vent and blow off steam. That prepared me to coach Mia, who is just as tough and driven. Less argumentative, but I know when she disagrees with me, and I don’t take it as personal as I did when I was a younger coach."

But there was one difference between the two that Heaney noticed as Len approached the time when high school basketball players start to decide whether or not to continue playing in college.

"With Brandon, at a party the night we lost in the finals, he comes up and grabs me and says ‘I’m good,'" Heaney said. "He was moving on, he was going to go to college and be a kid. High school basketball was done. I think Mia always thought about college and chased that dream."

There were moments when Len wondered if playing in college was the right choice, if she should follow in her brother's footsteps and give it up once high school was done. But every time she thought about it, the same thing kept popping into the back of her mind.

"A couple of years ago, I was all set to play in college, but then I had some thoughts," she said. "Is this really what I want? But I’d miss the game too much, it’s such a big part of my life. I couldn’t see myself turning it down for another four years."

So next season, when Wheaton College opens its basketball season, Mia Len will be there.

And then the fun will really begin.