from the great lakes to the smoky mountains

Tara Heyboer traveled far to conclude her high school basketball career with the Seymour Lady Eagles.

While Heyboer was born in Sevierville, she grew up in the Midwest in a town near Lansing, Michigan. Her family moved back to East Tennessee after her sophomore year of high school.

Heyboer, the 2007-08 Seymour Herald Girls High School Basketball Player of the Year, says her experiences in both the Great Lake State and the Volunteer State have helped shape her as basketball player and as a person.

She says that although the overall competition among high school teams in Michigan might be a little stronger, it was during her final two prep seasons while playing for the Seymour Lady Eagles and head coach Randy Moore when she really flourished on the basketball court.

Heyboer was a major contributor for the Lady Eagles during her junior season in 2006-07 but she really came into her own during Seymour’s 20-8, District Tournament Championship run this past season.

Heyboer led the Lady Eagles over the balance of the season, averaging 17.8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, but she elevated her play to another level during the postseason.

“I thought she really turned it on toward the end of the year,” said Lady Eagles head coach Randy Moore. “At the end of the year we just rode her to the district (tournament) championship.”

Heyboer, who was named the 2008 District 3-AA Tournament Most Valuable Player, shined during the Lady Eagles’ run to the program’s second ever district tournament championship this past February. She averaged just over 23 points per contest in three district tourney games, including a game-high 20-points in the championship game victory over tourney-host Gibbs.

Moore admits his eyes lit up when he first saw Heyboer on the basketball court prior to her junior season, her first at SHS.

“I knew she was going to be a good player for us,” said Moore. “When she first came I was excited because she was so athletic, she had a good shot and she could drive the ball so well."

Although Heyboer’s athletic skills were obvious to the longtime hoops coach early on, Moore says the 5-foot-10 guard/forward didn’t exactly hit the ground running during her first season at SHS.

“It took a good year for Tara to get acclimated to my system,” Moore explained. “She made some contributions to the team last year but I think she really started to come into her own during her senior season. I wish I could have had her all four years.”

Heyboer said she’s been lucky to play for the coaches she’s had during her high school career. She said Andy Barr, her coach at Ionia High School in Michigan, was instrumental in helping her develop her game.

Heyboer said she didn’t really know what to expect when she first arrived at Seymour, but in retrospect, realizes how fortunate she has been to play for the demanding Moore, one of the most decorated high school basketball coaches in East Tennessee.

It was the soft-spoken teenager’s relationship with the late Dennis Berrier—a former Seymour assistant basketball coach who lost a courageous battle with cancer last August prior to the start of the 2007-08 high school basketball season—though that has served as motivation both on and off the court. Heyboer says her memory of Berrier’s strength and strong will is sure continue to inspire her long after her high school days are over.

“I dedicated my play this year to the memory of Dennis Berrier,” Heyboer commented. “He passed away right before the school year started and I know how much he wanted to be with us.

“I really didn’t get the experience of him coaching me personally but just seeing his strength and how hard he fought has been very inspirational to me. Basketball is just a game but he was fighting for his life. I’m thankful that I got a chance to know him,” Heyboer continued.

“At the funeral, most of the girls on the team went up to his wife and told her that we are dedicating the season to him,” she added.

“When I first got here there was a story going around about how he had just gone through a surgery but he all he wanted to do was get back out and start coaching again. That’s just the kind of person he was.”

Heyboer says she plans to continue her basketball career after high school. She said she is considering a “few different colleges,” particularly Maryville College and Olivet College, a Division III school near her former hometown in Michigan.

Her former high school coach thinks her game will adapt well to the next level.

“I don’t think she’s even close to reaching her potential,” said Moore. “She has a chance to be a very good college player because of her size and athletic ability.”