Assistant Sports Editor
Last year freshman Heidi Coleman paid her dues Demon Deacon style: upon entering the women's basketball program as a highly-anticipated freshman point guard recruit, Coleman tore her anterior cruciate ligament after playing in only five games and missed the remainder of the season.
Coleman underwent surgery for the injury in January and qualified for red-shirt status. Now, after rehabilitating her leg, she will return to aid in the position of floor captain for the Deacons and will attempt to help the team in its quest for a quality ACC showing this season.
Coleman entered the program as one of the top guard prospects in the country. The Blue Star Index had her pegged as one of the top-10 guards in the nation her senior year in high school, and Coleman was named a Parade All-American.
Competing in a Kentucky prep school league, Coleman set school records for assists, points and rebounds and finished as the fourth-leading scorer in school history. She was also named state and region player of the year her senior year.
In her limited playing time last season, Coleman ably assumed the leadership position on the floor. In the Auburn Classic held at the beginning of last season, Coleman averaged 11.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and four assists before going down with her ACL injury.
Now the Deacons, as healthy as they have been as a team the past several years, will look to Coleman to build on the limited experience she has at the NCAA level and hopefully to demonstrate the talent her high school record shows she possesses.
Coleman will be joined in the backcourt by junior guard Stacey Hawes and sophomore Crystal Carpenter. The Deacons hope Coleman's ball-handling skills and all-around presence on the court will mesh well with the torrid shooting of Carpenter, who emerged last year as one of the Deacons' best long-range shooters.
Although Coleman has been a part of the Demon Deacon team for over a year now, her presence is still something of an unknown quantity. If she can return from her knee injury to recapture the form she showed in high school and the early part of last season, Coleman will be a welcome addition to the Demon Deacon drive toward a finish in the upper half of the ACC.