trosenau@nujournal.com

MELBOURNE, Australia — While she was lucky to get a start to her semi-professional basketball career in Ireland last year, this year 2019 Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s grad Cassie Heinrichs has gotten to take her talents Down Under.

Heinrichs got her first taste of pro basketball last year with the DCU Mercy, an Irish Women’s Super League basketball team based in Dublin, Ireland. During that time, Heinrichs got to play basketball while completing her schooling at Dublin City University.

“It was a great experience,” Heinrichs said. “The basketball part of it was amazing, it was a whole new world to explore, it was more-so everything else that was really the most rewarding thing I got out of it. Getting my education from a great university, tough degree, really challenging, so I’m really proud of that.

Photo courtesy of Martin Ramos Southern Peninsula Sharks guard Cassie Heinrichs puts up a 3 during a women’s basketball game earlier this season. After a year in Ireland, Heinrichs took her talent to Australia and has been one of the Sharks’ leaders this season.

“A big city in a foreign country, learning how to take public transport, a different currency, a different time zone, learning how to open a bank account in a different country. It was the things like that was just life-changing. I got to backpack Europe for most after the season ended, that alone was life-changing, taught my more than I could’ve learned anywhere else.”

After graduating with a master’s degree in international relations, Heinrichs was able to continue her basketball journey by signing a one-year deal with the Southern Peninsula Sharks, a Division 2 women’s basketball team in Melbourne, Australia, that is a part of the Big V semi-professional basketball league. The Sharks play all their games in the state of Victoria, making the longest trip for the team around a three-hour drive.

In addition to saying Australia felt closer culturally to the United States, Heinrichs said for import basketball players playing in other countries, Australia was the place to be.

“The salaries are usually good, the facilities are usually good, the people are usually good, there are some really, really good imports here,” Heinrichs said. “So kind of all roads lead to Australia in the world of import basketball players.

“Also, it was a timing thing. The season over here is sort of opposite to how it is back home, so the winter and the summer are flipped in Australia. So instead of it being a winter sport back home, it goes from March to August over here, so the timing kind of worked out. And I really wanted some sunshine and good weather.”

Going from playing in Ireland to playing in Australia, Heinrichs has also noticed more community support.

“Basketball is big here, a lot bigger than Ireland,” Heinrichs said. “And people will recognize you all over the [Mornington] Peninsula. You might go to the grocery store and someone will be like, ‘Hey, you play for the Sharks, I watched you last weekend.’ … After games, kids and everyone will come onto the court and get players to sign their posters and their jerseys and shoes and everything. I’ve even signed a couple foreheads.”

With one game remaining on the Sharks’ schedule, Heinrichs is 21st in her league in scoring, fourth in assists and 11th in steals. She’s averaging 11.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2.1 steals per game.

Heinrichs has also taken good care of the ball as her team’s point guard with just 1.7 turnovers per game despite the added challenge of a 24-second shot clock, which Heinrichs described as a quicker, more fun way to play.

Heinrichs, who has also been a three-time All-Big V Team of the Week player this season, called herself a “late bloomer” on the court and said she thinks she’s been improving her skillset every year since her first year of college basketball at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Her first year with the Sharks has opened up a new level of confidence and calmness in her.

“I’ve been peaking as I go, which is really exciting to see because I feel like I still can get better,” Heinrichs said. “I feel like this year is some of the best basketball I’ve played, probably in my life. Most confident basketball, I feel loose, I feel free, I’m making things happen, getting my teammates involved.

“But I feel like it’s some of the best I’ve played. It’s really cool to see, too, just kind of the trust that your teammates and your coaches put on you as the import as well. It gives you the opportunity to do some things that maybe you didn’t do in college. It’s awesome.”

Since landing in Australia, Heinrichs said her teammates, coaches and host family have been supportive and kind to her as the only American player on the team, making the experience rewarding in many ways.

“I’m the only American import player on the team this season, which is a different vibe because I played with two other imports in Ireland, but it’s amazing,” she said. “I cannot talk enough about my teammates, they’re incredible people, they’ve really made this experience what it’s been. And my host family as well who I’m staying with, Ben and Kate Cronin and their four amazing kids … they’re just lovely people, they’re like a second family to me.”

Despite the step up in competition and seriousness Australia brings to the basketball court, Heinrichs hasn’t been afraid of taking it to the competition and driving to the hoop. Driving on the opposite side of the road, however, has been a bigger challenge as she said the experience had her “running on Google maps and a prayer.”

Road concerns aside, Heinrichs has loved being in Australia doing what she loves and called it a blessing. While she’s unsure what’s in store for her next year and plans to return home to Minnesota after the season, she has interest in continuing to play basketball in Australia and hopes her story inspires other players to pursue their dreams.

“I really didn’t want to look back on these years and be like, ‘What if I tried that, what if I had done that,’ Heinrichs said. “So I’m really happy that I’m doing all this and I’m trying all these crazy things. It doesn’t really matter where you come from or if there’s a blueprint for you to follow, if you have dreams or goals or passions, just pursue them. Live a full life. I’m very, very happy, very blessed, and I’m excited to get home and see everybody.”