Videckis' leadership led Bartlett to new heights
It would be safe to say Haley Videckis was on a mission this season.
After two straight years of disappointing sectional losses, Videckis and the Bartlett girls basketball team had one last shot to make the program's first trip to Redbird Arena and the IHSA state finals since the Hawks' second-place finish in 2005.
Bartlett had eight seniors back and, on paper, a team that figured to be highly ranked all season.
What the Hawks ended up doing may have surprised some but not Videckis, the inspirational and scoring leader of what became a finely tuned basketball team, one of the best the Fox Valley has ever seen and one that spent all but the preseason and final Daily Herald Top 20 ranking as the No. 1 team.
With the 6-foot Videckis leading the way, Bartlett had one of those seasons to remember, going 32-2, winning tournament titles at Naperville Central/Benet and Dundee-Crown as well as sharing the Upstate Eight Valley title, and then bringing home the Class 4A third-place trophy last weekend from Normal.
“Everything Haley did was for the good of the team,” said Bartlett coach Denise Sarna. “She didn't care how we won, as long as we won.”
For her efforts this season, Videckis has been named the honorary co-captain of the 2011-12 Daily Herald Fox Valley all-area team. She shares the award with South Elgin senior Becca Smith. Videckis becomes the fourth Bartlett player to be an all-area captain, following three-time honoree Linsday Schrader, twice-named Jacki Gulczynski and Kaci Baird.
After a long and grueling season, one that ended at Redbird but also with 12 stitches in her forehead, Videckis' satisfaction came in knowing she and her team did what it set out to do.
“I knew we'd get there from the beginning,” she said. “No one was going to stop us from accomplishing that dream. The route we had to go changed and that was a big motivator for us. We were very confident.”
Videckis' season mirrored her career with excellence. She averaged 18 points and 6 rebounds per game and hit 74 3-pointers, becoming the school's career leader in 3s with 133. She was a 78 percent free throw shooter and she averaged 2.4 assists and 2.1 steals. She had a career-high 30 point game against South Elgin and her 25 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals led Bartlett to a 74-66 win over New Trier and the Hawks' first championship at the Dundee-Crown Christmas tournament.
The postseason accolades rolled in for the Indiana recruit who played for Derril Kipp's Illinois Hustle AAU program. She was named first-team all-state by the IBCA, second team all-state Associated Press, she's a member of the ESPN all-area team, the Upstate Eight Valley Excpetional Player of the Year, and a candidate for Illinois' coveted Ms. Basketball Award.
In her career, Videckis scored 1,350 points, ranking her third in school history. She also had 200 assists, 203 steals and 461 rebounds. She's a three-time all-area choice as well. Bartlett's varsity went 95-28 since Videckis came to the school as a freshman; she played in 112 of those 123 games.
“Haley was a true leader who just got better and better every year,” Sarna said. “She came in as a talented athlete and leaves as a great basketball player. She worked so hard and put in so much time on her own. She's a kid that's going to go far in life. She works hard and has a great personality. She's a true winner.”
Videckis, who will study business with an emphasis on sports marketing and management at Indiana, had to toughen up her game this year, more out of attrition than anything. With leading scorer Gulczynski graduated on to Wisconsin, it was on Videckis to pick up the scoring role and she did so despite the fact everyone in the gym knew she was the Hawks' go-to.
“I had a lot more pressure on me and I was able to overcome that and score with people on me,” she said. “I developed a better 3-point shot and I learned more when to pull up and when to shoot with a defender on me.”
That's pretty much all you'll get Videckis to say about herself because she was more about team than any personal accolades.
“We had such good chemistry and we all got along so well,” she said. “We had a love of the game and it was enjoyable to go to practice every day.”
Videckis, the daughter of Ken and Nancy Videckis whose younger sister Kendra is a junior for the Hawks and an accomplished soccer player, acknowledged her leadership role, knowing all along that even a team with eight seniors needed a leader.
“We had a lot of people who wanted to be leaders and that was great,” she said, “but there has to be that one person to pick everyone up and I really tried to get everyone together and I kept telling everyone that if we just came out playing hard and together we could accomplish everything we wanted to.”
Sarna knew Videckis was ready to be the Hawks' leader as far back as last season.
“Haley was ready to step into that role last year but Jacki was the senior leader,” Sarna said. “She worked hard on her perimeter shot and you always knew the sacrifices she was making were for the team.”
Like those 12 stitches that came after a collision with a Schaumburg player just before halftime of the regional final. Instead of sitting out and going to the hospital, she came back in the third quarter and sparked the Hawks to the regional title. Stitched up, she fought through the pain and the discomfort of bandages and headbands to be the catalyst to Bartlett's overtime win against Wheaton Warrenville South in the sectional finals and then made major contributions down the stretch in the 61-59 overtime win against Loyola in the state third place game.
“Through it all she carried the team on her shoulders,” Sarna said. “I just can't say enough about Haley. She's a perfectionist who is determined to be the best. I love the kid to death and we're going to miss her but it's time for her to move on.”
But before she does, Videckis reflected on those who have helped her become the Division I scholarship athlete she is.
“Coach Sarna,” she said. “She really started to believe in me this year. She gave me a great role and she's helped push me. I also have very supportive friends. My best friend, Tracy Raggio, has helped me through a lot. She's struck by my side through everything and her words have kept me going. And my trainer, Mike DiNuno. He's done an incredible job of developing my shot and he's one of my best friends as well.”
While she says not playing basketball at Bartlett anymore hasn't really sunk in, Videckis is excited about her college career unfolding.”
“It's going to be a great experience,” she said.
Just like her season and career at Bartlett have been.