Souhegan's Chick continuing to grow on basketball court

Mike Heaney thought he knew what he was getting when Hannah Chick decided to return to the Souhegan High School girls basketball team a year ago.

A year younger than the coach's youngest daughter, Kate, he had watched Chick play various sports as both girls grew up. But Heaney quickly found out there was a lot more he had to learn.

"I had this preconceived notion of her as this really tough competitor who would go through you to beat you," Heaney said. "But then you spend some time with somebody at a pasta party or on the bus going to a road game, and you just see this incredible sweetness. She's an incredible kid."

And by the end of this season, Heaney believes Chick, who gave up basketball as a sophomore to focus on soccer, could be just as incredible on the court.

"In a way, she's still trying to learn high-level basketball," he said. "Physically, she can dominate because she's so strong and fast. But as a basketball player, she's still learning the game. If she were back for another year, she'd be ridiculous. Her ceiling is still going up."

As a freshman, Chick's role was limited, but over the course of last season and this preseason, she's felt her confidence in her abilities grow.

"When I was a freshman, my job was to get the rebound and give it away," Chick said. "I felt like as I've gotten older, and I've matured, I've gotten more comfortable with my post moves and being confident. I think for the most part, I've grown with my endurance and my athleticism. Getting up and down the court, whether it's on a rebound or in transition, that's what I've been working on the most."

The road from great soccer shape to great basketball shape isn't a long for Chick, as Heaney believes she's one of the fastest players on the team, in part because of her desire to be the hardest worker on the court.

"We have a couple of kids that you could say are our best players," Heaney said. "Hannah is one of them and she is never going to be outworked. No one outworks her at practice and that makes my life easy."

Growing up playing multiple sports, Chick decided to focus on just two as she entered high school, but after helping the soccer team win a Division II championship as a sophomore, she opted to step away from basketball. Narrowing her focus to one sport helped her decide on what she wanted to do in college.

"I think coming into high school, I really didn't know," Chick said. "I knew I wanted to play one of them. Growing up, I played everything, basketball, soccer, football with the boys, softball. It's just narrowed down. I was a three-sport athlete until high school. Sophomore year I decided I wanted to focus more on soccer."

That helped lead her to Southern New Hampshire University, where she'll continue playing soccer next year.

But during the winter of sophomore year, Chick listened to her friends who were on the basketball team talk about what it was like to play for Heaney, who was in his first year as the girls coach after coming over from the Souhegan boys team.

"When I didn't play, I had friends on the team and they were always talking about how positive he was and how they loved him," Chick said. "He's been great. He's definitely one of the best coaches I've ever had. He's a really understanding, reasonable guy. I've never been on a team where all the girls just worked so hard for him."

The Sabers are hoping that work will translate onto the court. Last year, Souhegan fell in the first round of the D2 playoffs to Goffstown, which eventually reached the championship game.

With 10 players back on the varsity, Souhegan is expecting bigger things.

"We know we have a lot under our belt," Chick said. "We have pretty much the same team, so I think we're more comfortable. We're getting to know each other more on the court. It seems like we're focused on one game at a time and I think that's going to work best."