"When motivation is pure and selfless, it will result in helping bring others together."
A.J. Darkholme, Writer

SIOUX FALLS -- Jacey Huinker felt a warm, joyous and somewhat indescribable feeling as she soaked in the euphoria with her University of Sioux Falls Women's Basketball teammates after the Cougars won the NSIC Women's Basketball Tournament Championship in February 2016 at the Sanford Pentagon.

It was a bit of Deja vu for the USF junior standout, who had experienced similar emotions when her Southeast Polk High School (Altoona, Iowa) girls' team won the Iowa 5A State Championships three years earlier at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.

"When you get the chance to share a special experience, like winning a championship, with teammates you love, it is such a special feeling," said Huinker, a native of Altoona, Iowa. "It is hard to describe, but winning championships is something you dream about all your life. When you do, and you are out on the floor and take it all in, it is a surreal experience."

Those words demonstrate the kind of teammate and person that Huinker is. For her winning is a "we" thing that has seemingly followed her since she was a freshman at Southeast Polk High. Four straight berths in the Iowa 5A state high school championships was followed at USF by an NSIC Tournament title and NCAA Tournament appearance in 2015-16 with another trip to the NSIC Tournament Championship game in 2016-17. In two-plus seasons with USF, she has helped the Cougars to a 63-24 record, including 43-21 in NSIC play.

 While Huinker is unsure why all the winning has followed her over the last seven years, her coach at USF clearly understands the why.

"Jacey epitomizes team play," said USF Head Women's Basketball Coach Travis Traphagen. "She never thinks about herself and is always focused on what it takes to win, whether it means fighting taller players on the boards, locking down on defense and forcing a steal or making a pass. Sometimes, she needs to be a little more selfish but that isn't who she is. She believes in team play and just finding a way to win," he said.

Love of Basketball

Long before she arrived at USF, Huinker developed a passion for sports, playing not only basketball but volleyball as well as participating in track in Altoona, Iowa. She liked the other sports but she was drawn to basketball, mostly because for her, it was fun.

"To me, it is the ultimate team game. It is so much fun because of your teammates and the many ups and downs your experience with each other," said Huinker, who is a nursing major at USF, where she has been named Academic All-NSIC and one of 12 USF women's basketball players recently named to the Dean's List.

Another reason she was drawn to the game, in part, was because her mom, Janel (Yilek) Huinker, coached her beginning in a local youth league and until she started high school. The mentorship of her mother was significant, says Huinker.

"She was always pushing me and helping me understand the game better," said Huinker, of her mother, a standout basketball and softball player at NCAA DIII Simpson College, who earned Hall of Fame honors from the school in 2002.

Finding her place in basketball fit into a family that was filled with members who played various sports at a high level. Her father, Darren, played football and baseball at Central College and rarely has missed one of her games. Plus, she has an older brother, Payton, who ran track at Wartburg, and a brother, Logan, who currently plays football at Central College.

"We have always been sports-oriented," said Huinker. "Growing up, we were always going to games or playing some kind of sport," she said.

Many of those games included Huinker, who was starting by her sophomore year in high school.

Making a college decision

With instruction coming from mainly her mom until she started high school, Huinker wondered what it would be like with a different coach. Then, she met Southeast Polk girls' coach Tracy (Aldridge) Dailey, who became another major influence on her life. Dailey, who earned honorable mention All-Western Athletic Conference honors in playing two years at NCAA DI New Mexico, provided mentorship that extended beyond the floor to post-high school decision making. "She was a big influence, who helped me understand a lot about matters off the floor, including college considerations," Huinker said.

As she considered colleges, Huinker looked at USF, Northwest Missouri State and Washington University in St. Louis. However, a trip to USF sealed the deal for her.

"As soon as I walked on campus, I knew this was the place for me," she said.

Another tipping point was a group of USF Women's Basketball seniors, who were about to embark on an historic season at USF in 2015-16.

"They really had an impact on me," said Huinker. "They were so welcoming and caring. Varsh (Taylor Varsho), Teag (Teagen Molden), Al (Alison Klostergaard), Marie (Marie Malloy) and Amber (Amber Paden) welcomed me without hesitation," said Huinker. "They opened their arms to me. And soon, USF became my little slice of heaven."

While Huinker didn't play a lot as a freshman (21 games, 4.2 minutes per game), she was a part of USF's first NSIC team title of any kind as the Cougars won the NSIC Tournament Championship with a 75-57 victory over city rival Augustana in the championship.

"I remember like it was yesterday. The crowd and atmosphere was electric and everything was picture perfect. And, to top it off by beating Augie, that was a special moment," said Huinker, who helped the Cougars to a school record 27-6 season. 

Shortly thereafter, she and her teammates headed to Pittsburg, Kan., for the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. While the game didn't go the Cougars' way, it was a memorable time that made Huinker, who had two points and four rebounds in the regional loss to Pittsburg State, ready to get to work and be prepared to contribute at a more significant level.

After USF lost those five seniors, she moved into a key role as a sophomore. In 2016-17, Huinker averaged 4.6 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists in starting 30 games as USF put together a second straight 20-win season (22-8). USF just missed a second straight national tourney berth when the Cougars dropped a heartbreaker to Northern State in the NSIC Tourney title game.

"That was a tough game to lose," said Huinker, who noted that the fourth-seeded Cougars had knocked off the top seed and No. 11--ranked MSU Moorhead, 54-45 and defeated second seeded Wayne State, 58-49.

"But it was another experience that I won't forget. Madi (Robson) was such a great leader and friend. A.J. (Alyson Johnsen) and Sam (Knecht) are special people who helped lead us during a really fun season," added Huinker, who had a combined 24 rebounds in the three tournament games.

Like a year earlier, Huinker returned to USF as a junior with a team hit hard by graduation. USF returned just one senior, Huinker's roommate, Moira Duffy, and two starters in sophomore Kaely Hummel and Huinker. But preseason polls, in which USF was picked 10th overall, and dire prognostications have mattered little to players like Huinker, who just find ways and the will to win games.

With two home games to go in the 2017-18 regular season, Huinker has played a lead role as USF sealed a fourth straight winning season at 14-10, 11-9 in the NSIC. Entering the final weekend, Huinker and the Cougars are one win away from clinching an NSIC Tournament opening round game for the third straight year.

During her two-plus years at USF, the Cougars have had a lot of significant wins for USF but when the Cougars upended No. 5 Augustana last Friday (Feb. 9) at the Sioux Falls Arena, it brought a little extra celebration from Huinker and her teammates. It was the Cougars' first-ever win over a top-five nationally ranked team and guaranteed another winning season. And, as with every other victory this season, Huinker and her teammates did a little dancing and singing in the locker room.

"I have a lot of great teammates and we have fun together," said Huinker. "For me winning isn't just about working hard. It is having a good time with teammates, loving each other believing and trusting each other. We have a winning mentality in this program and every night we play, we can't settle for less no matter who we play."

Huinker is not someone who racks up gobs of points. While she averages just 6.3 ppg, the 5-9 forward ranks second in the league (28th nationally) in rebounding at 10.1 per game and has accumulated 13 career double digit rebound games, including eight this year. Twenty times in her career, she has had at least eight boards. In addition, Huinker averages a team-high 3.2 assists (sixth in the NSIC), is tied for the league lead with a 2.6 assist-to-turnover ratio (eighth nationally), and is ninth in the NSIC with 1.4 steals.

As noted by Traphagen, her impact on the floor is unmistakable.

"When she is on the floor, we are clearly a different team. She is a leader, who shines by example," he said.

With an unbridled passion for the game, Huinker carries an intoxicating, if not magnetic joy and enthusiasm that rubs off on everyone she meets. 

 "She is perpetual motion, seemingly never tiring and always focused on doing what it takes to win," said Hummel.

 Perhaps her biggest compliment is one that she hasn't heard. Traphagen related that one of the opposing coaches in the league told him in a pre-game discussion that Huinker was the type of player she could use on her team, referring to her effusive spirit and nonstop energy.  

"Jacey is someone with strong faith, intelligent, and always with an upbeat attitude," said Traphagen. "Plus, she is the most selfless player I've known. She demands everybody play as hard as they can. Clearly, her leadership brings everyone together."

In a recent game with Minot State, Huinker was scrambling on the floor for a basketball, and in a roll-up with a bigger player, her elbows and body slammed to the floor and she popped up with fire in her eyes and the ball in her hands.

"When you have a kid like this – who gives everything she's got and always puts the team first - it makes a big difference," said Traphagen. "Jacey is a fierce and tough competitor who has the intangibles of a winner. Most of all, she has a heart of a champion."