Newsday Athlete of the Week is Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK's Emma Heaney

Emma Heaney was primarily a soccer player entering her freshman year of high school. Initially, she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to try out for the basketball team for fear it would conflict with other commitments. But Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK girls basketball coach Nick Tomasulo insisted the athletic Heaney try out for the team and said they’d figure out a schedule that works.

Four years later, Heaney, a senior, is one of the best girls basketball players on Long Island and set to play college basketball at Division I Lafayette College.

“I was nervous to just try out my freshman year,” Heaney said. “I was all soccer and I was doing (basketball) more for fun because I played in middle school. I had no serious intention behind it.”

By the end of her freshman year, basketball became her primary sport and focus. Heaney, now 6-1, joined her first AAU basketball team as a freshman and was an impact four-year varsity player for the Hawks. The forward opened her final high school postseason run with 17 points, 16 rebounds and seven blocks despite playing just three quarters as fourth-seeded Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK defeated No. 5 Port Washington, 50-15, in the Nassau Class AAA quarterfinals on Wednesday.

For this performance, she was named Newsday’s Athlete of the Week.

Heaney, who averaged 20 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks this season, isn’t worried about personal statistics though. The Hawks’ girls program has never even played in a county final, and Heaney and her teammates are determined to change that.

“All we want to do is win,” Heaney said. “That’s all we’re focused on. Every time I step on the court, that’s what’s going through my head. Every single play is, ‘We need to do this to win.’ ”

Tomasulo sees that combination of focus and athleticism on a daily basis.

“There are times in practice where she makes a move or she does something athletic where I’m like ‘Holy crap, that was special,’ ” Tomasulo said. “And that’s awesome to watch.”

Tomasulo has witnessed Heaney evolve into an elite overall basketball player in the last four years. Heaney’s next challenge is leading the Hawks against top-seeded Massapequa in the Nassau Class AAA semifinals on March 1 at Farmingdale State.

“When she was a freshman, she was just a superior athlete playing the game,” Tomasulo said. “Now, she’s a basketball player who is also a superior athlete on top of that, which is special to watch. I tell her all the time the sky’s the limit because she’s kind of only just cracking her potential.”