DEEP RUN — Heather West doesn’t play mistake-free basketball, but she does play the game with passion and enthusiasm.
That eagerness to succeed has rubbed off on her South Lenoir teammates, and the Blue Devils are winning because of it.
West, a senior guard who transferred to South Lenoir in August after spending three years at Parrott Academy, is averaging a team-best 14.9 points, 4.3 steals and 3.7 assists per game. But it’s not her individual abilities that has the Blue Devils currently in a three-way tie with East Duplin and Jacksonville Northside for second place in the East Central 2A Conference.
It’s the way she plays the game.
“It’s really encouraged the girls, having more players who really know what they’re doing,” fellow senior Caroline Jones said of her new teammate.
“It encourages them to push even harder, too.”
West, who led Parrott Academy in scoring a season ago at 11.5 points per game, was apprehensive at first about her move to South Lenoir, but it didn’t take long for her to fit in.
West’s younger sister, Hailey, a freshman, was there, and she found the basketball team waiting with open arms.
“I felt like by transferring to South Lenoir I would enjoy basketball a lot more,” West said. “I was nervous that I wouldn’t fit in; that they wouldn’t accept me since I was coming in my senior year.
“They’re like family. All my friends are on the team and I really love all the girls.”
Once West felt comfortable in her new home, it was time to get to work.
South Lenoir is off to its best start in years, with 10 wins in its first 13 games and a 4-1 conference mark. And West isn’t solely responsible — it’s been a team effort.
West doesn’t fly around the court with a cape or have special powers. What she does have, though, is a strong work ethic that’s led to her own personal success, and her teammates have picked up on it.
They, too, want to succeed individually and as a unit, and have stepped up their games as well, both on game nights and during practice.
“Whenever I go to a practice or a game I always give it 110 percent. I feel like my energy and my drive has made other people (better) because there’s someone else working so hard,” West said.
“I think that’s made everyone else want to work a little extra hard.”
The Blue Devils’ new level of commitment doesn’t have them settling for second place. They have winning a league title on their minds.
South Lenoir will host Croatan on Friday with the goal of not only keeping pace with the Panthers and Monarchs (who play each other Tuesday), but with league-leading Clinton as well.
The Blue Devils have already pulled off a big upset by defeating Northside, which has given them the confidence that they can compete for a conference championship.
West feels all the pieces are in place for it to happen.
She just happens to complete the puzzle.
“I feel like the last two games our defense has gotten a lot better, and we play as a team on defense and on offense. Our coaches have said it before — and I agree — that we have every piece of the puzzle,” West said.
“If we all have our heads in the game in every game the rest of the season, then anything is possible.”
Ryan Herman can be reached at 252-559-1073 or Ryan.Herman@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter: @KFPSports.