It's a good thing that Heidi Honermann is a fast healer, according to Dakota State University's head women's basketball coach Jeff Dittman.

     Without the services of the Adrian, Minn. senior, the likelihood of a repeat appearance in the NAIA Div. II Women's Basketball Tournament last weekend would probably have been a distant thought.  Also, she wouldn't have earned NAIA Academic All-American honors, like she did this week.

     Honermann took a little less than 10 months to recover from ACL knee surgery and then helped lead the Lady T's to a "Sweet 16" performance in the national tournament and a 23-9 overall record.

     "Heidi exemplified hard work," says Dittman. "While most athletes require two years to fully recover from ACL knee surgery, Heidi pushed herself to be ready in less than 10 months."

     Honermann proved her worth to the Lady T's hoops program on both sides of the ball.  Offensively, Honermann sits atop the 3-point field goal accuracy percentage list, having converted the "3" over 40 percent of the time, going 163-of-406 beyond the 3-point arc.  That overall performance is highlighted by the stats facts that she hit the "trey" at a 36.5-percent, 61-167, clip this season, good enough for third place in the DSU record book.  She made six of those long-range shots alone against Black Hills State.

     "She is one of the best long-range shooters we've ever had at DSU," adds Dittman.

     On defense, she bedeviled opponents throughout her career, making her a Top 10 "thief" on DSU's leader sheets.

     "Heidi had a tremendous season and was a huge key to our defense," says Dittman. "To make our zone defense work, Heidi had to match up with post players six inches taller than her, had to cover the baseline from side to side and had to have great anticipation."

     Honermann garnered 86 thefts this season, including seven apiece in games against the University of Mary and Minot State University, helping her reach 163 steals for four-year career.

     "She was able to record those 86 steals (seventh on the single-season steals record list) because of her tenacity," says Dittman.

     Academically, Honermann will be finishing her classroom career with about a cumulative grade point average above 3.5, a key guideline in gaining her NAIA Academic All-American honors.

     "We were very fortunate to have had Heidi join our program four years ago," concludes Dittman. "She is a great role model for our young athletes to work with (on and off the basketball floor)."

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