Courtney Heinen

For most of her sports career, former Axtell standout Courtney Heinen has finished second place coming up just short in high school at state basketball and state track & field.

That’s all gone and forever Heinen will be remembered as a champion as the now Kansas Wesleyan Coyote helped lead the women’s basketball team to the school’s first Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship with a 57-50 victory over Ottawa on Wednesday night.

Heinen has been a stud her entire senior season for the Coyotes who are now 24-5 overall and 20-3 in conference play which gave KWU their first conference title since the 2010-11 season and fourth in program history.

She has averaged 13.9 points per game this season which is third on the team and is second on the team in rebounds per game with 4.5 boards a night while shooting 81 percent from the free throw line.

Heinen is a two-time all-KCAC selection and became a 1,000-point scorer with a career-high 32-point performance against St. Marys earlier this year which happened to come in the 100th game of her college career.

She has gone over 20 points seven times this season and for her career is averaging 10 points per game while playing at least 28 games the past three seasons.

In her time at Axtell she racked up several awards, earning first team All-Twin Valley League her junior and senior seasons while she was also named an all-state selection her senior year.

Heinen will look to now lead the Coyotes to a strong postseason run and capture an outright KCAC title in the final game of the regular season on Saturday at home against Oklahoma Wesleyan University with tip off scheduled for 5 p.m.

(Photo courtesy of Tanner Colvin)