Athlete of the Week: Park is Lightning’s freshman phenom

One night in early December, on a bus ride back from a game, Sage Hill School girls’ basketball freshman Heather Park made a friendly bet with Lightning Coach Kerwin Walters.

Park bet Walters that the Golden State Warriors would break the NBA record for wins in a season, which is currently 72-10 set by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls.

Park said she’s unsure what kind of consequences will happen if she loses the bet. If she wins it?

“He said he’ll buy me shoes,” she said. “Jordans, I think.”

Through 46 games, the Warriors (42-4) are one game ahead of the Bulls’ pace. The bet looks like one that Park has a good chance of winning.

The Bulls had Michael Jordan as a once-in-a-generation type of talent. The Warriors have reigning NBA MVP Stephen Curry.

The Lightning have Park. She said she loves the game of Curry, who plays point guard like she does. And Park means as much to the Lightning this year, too.

Yes, she’s a freshman. She’s even young for her grade, as she turned 14 in November. But don’t let these small details fool you.

Park is a leader for the Lightning (12-6, 5-2 in the Academy League), who are having their best season in years. They play at rival St. Margaret’s on Friday at 6 p.m. in a key league game.

Sage Hill has beaten St. Margaret’s (4-3 in league) twice already this season, one of those in a tournament game, but both games were close. Friday’s contest will be Park’s first in the Tartans’ gym. Realistically, though, it doesn’t matter where she plays, she has been balling this year for Sage Hill.

She leads the Newport-Mesa area with her scoring average of 18.7 points per game, to go along with 4.1 steals and 3.1 assists. In league play, she has bumped the scoring average up to 22.9 points per game.

“She’s been playing really well and starting to do the things that a scoring guard should do,” Walters said. “She’s putting the pressure on the defense to guard her all the time, and she’s going to be a handful. She’s in her first year, and she’s going to be a real handful to everyone.”

Park scored a career-high 32 points on Tuesday night in Sage Hill’s showdown at league leader Oxford Academy. The Lightning lost to Oxford for the second time in league, 58-54, to fall two games behind the Patriots (7-0 in league) with five to play. It appears likely that Sage Hill will finish second place at best in league, which would still be the Lightning’s best finish since sharing the league title with Whitney and St. Margaret’s in 2008-09.

But there appears to be something special about this young nucleus, which features pieces like Park at point guard and sophomore twins Kenna and Kate Knollenberg as guard/forwards. Kenna is averaging 12.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and an eye-opening 8.5 steals per game. Kate is averaging 12.2 points and 5.1 steals, and also has scored 32 points for the Lightning in a tournament game this season.

Team captains Emily Hublitz, a junior who is Sage’s post player, and senior Kimya Ghaffarian also have been beneficial.

“It’s really exciting,” Park said. “I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us. We’re also getting a couple of new players next year, from club teams.”

Park was a late-bloomer in basketball terms, not starting to play the sport until she was 11 or 12. Her older brother Gregory, who is a junior shooting guard on the Sage boys’ basketball team, started the sport at a younger age. But Heather spent much of her youth as a dancer.

She has been serious about hoops, though. Last summer, she played club basketball for Cal Swish. Coming into a varsity program as a freshman point guard might seem like a lot of pressure, but she said everyone was welcoming.

“Especially Kenna, she made me so welcome here,” Park said. “She didn’t directly say, ‘This is your team,’ but she really made me feel like I could play here and do well here and carry them ... I hate losing. I really do want to carry my team. I think basketball has really taught me how to become a leader in general, not just on the court.”

Walters said Park is aggressive and has an inside-outside game. Her decision-making has also improved. With the talent that the Lightning has, she can trust her teammates.

Park has that desire to be better, as a sort of basketball junkie. Her favorite college player is UCLA sophomore point guard Jordin Canada, who like Park is 5-foot-6.

“She’s my idol,” Park said. “I watched her when she was a senior at Windward and they beat Mater Dei [in the 2014 CIF Southern Section Open Division final]. She’s such a leader. She takes control of the game when it matters ... I record her [UCLA] games.”

Sage Hill competes in CIF Southern Section Division 4A, not the Open Division, but the Lightning still want to end league play strong and head into the playoffs on a high note. For the future, there are even bigger goals.

“They want to be great,” said Walters, who is in his fourth year at the helm, of his players. “They want to be one of the elite teams, not [only] in our league, but in Orange County. That’s the goal that we’re trying to get to, to be one of those programs that no matter who we play against, it’s going to be a battle.

“They want to build it up to that level. At one point, can we venture to play the Mater Deis of the world? Will we get there? Time will tell. If we get there, it’ll be fun.”

Park will continue to have fun for Sage Hill. The Warriors delivering on her bet also would be a nice bonus.

“I love Steph,” she said. “He is just my favorite.”

—

Heather Park

Born: Nov. 8, 2001

Hometown: Irvine

Height: 5-foot-6

Sport: Basketball

Year: Freshman

Coach: Kerwin Walters

Favorite food: Steak

Favorite movie: “Linsanity”

Favorite athletic moment: Making late free throws to help Sage Hill win a tournament game at Oxford Academy earlier this season.

Week in review: Park scored a combined 43 points in Academy League wins over Brethren Christian on Jan. 21 and Crean Lutheran on Jan. 22.