Heather Corral showcased a deeper range with her shot this year than she had when she was a freshman two seasons ago. Her defense, utilizing those long arms and her smarts to anticipate passes, remained impeccable. Her ball-handling skills were better. Her vision, her ability to find an open teammate, improved, too.
All of those things helped her have a great junior season for the Prairie girls basketball team.
But it might have been her leadership that was the greatest asset to the Falcons.
With Corral back from a knee injury she sustained as a sophomore, the Falcons raced out to a 22-0 record, earning league and district championships.
The team was poised to go on a long run in the state tournament.
Then, it happened again. Another severe knee injury. This time, a torn ACL in her left knee.
By then, the rest of the Falcons knew they were a talented team. Playing for Corral and playing with the confidence of Corral, the Falcons still went on that long playoff run, winning the next five games before falling in the state championship game.
For her all-around performance on the court, and her leadership off, Heather Corral is The Columbian’s All-Region girls basketball player of the year.
“It was a lot of fun,” Corral said of the season, especially running coach Al Aldridge’s new offense. “It gave us a lot of freedom, a lot of dribble-drive. You got to create what you did, and it was fun to create for others.”
Corral led the team in scoring with 15.2 points a game, but it was clearly a team effort when it came to points. The Falcons won their 13 games against 3A Greater St. Helens League competition by an average of 45.2 points a game. During the season, 10 of the 11 girls on the team scored at least 10 points at least once.
Belief in themselves helped them win, even without Corral on the floor.
Corral’s improvement on the floor was due, in part, to her missing most of her sophomore season.
She used her time on the bench to study the game. When she could not jump or run, she worked on her shot. Now, she will have to do it all over again to get ready for her senior year.
The most difficult part of the ordeal for Corral was watching the championship game.
“I wanted to go help. I wanted to let some of the pressure off, and I couldn’t,” she said.
Oh, she helped. All season long, in one way or another.
