Heaven Hamling's biggest feat was leading NDSU to D-I relevance

That’s why Thursday’s home finale for North Dakota State is so emotional for the senior guard from Grand Rapids, Minnesota.

After five years and 110 games, Hamling will play her final game inside the Scheels Center tonight.

“I’ve always gone and been oh, I have another year. That'll never be me. But now it’s here. It'll be my last game in the SHAC. And it's sad. It's emotional. But my time here has been super special, so I can't ask for anything better.” Hamling said.

Hamling’s collegiate basketball career did not begin in Fargo. It actually started in Nacogdoches, Texas at Stephen F. Austin University. Hamling committed to the Lumberjacks after a standout high school career playing for her mom, Kris, at Grand Rapids. Hamling was a top-five finalist for Miss Basketball, racking up over 2700 points.

She played in 32 games during the 2018-19 season at SFA, averaging five points a game. Hamling admitted she wasn’t happy and was looking for a return closer to home. Her AAU coach of the Minnesota Stars, Josh Hersch saw that NDSU was hiring Jory Collins as the new head coach of the Bison and figured that may be a fit.

Collins was hired in April 2019 and after he evaluated the returning roster, knew he needed a game-changer.

“I knew she was interested and watched enough film of her at SFA and our cupboard is fairly bare and this girl is better than what we got.” Collins said earlier this week.

“It was a no-brainer for me and a no-brainer for Heaven, it lined up right, just turned out to a perfect marriage.”

Hamling added: “I was on cloud nine, nothing could wrong, I was already committed and I was coming here.”

The ironic part is that when Hamling transferred is what under the old NCAA policy where players had to sit out an entire year before being eligible. So Hamling sat and waited during the 2019-20 season, eager for her chance to get on the court and show what she could do.

That season, NDSU won a postseason game for the first time since 2009 as the Bison reached the Summit League semifinals, finishing with an 11-19 record.

All the while Hamling trained and practiced eager for her shot.

“I needed to sit down and I needed to get faster, I needed to get stronger. And everyone here did that I did workouts on my own when the team was traveling. I worked on offense and defense for the other team.”

Hamling’s long-awaited debut was worth the wait. She was named the Summit League newcomer of the year and earned a spot on the Summit League second team as the Bison won a tournament game again for the second straight year, finishing with a 15-9 record.

There were high expectations for the following season, but things fell flat. NDSU regressed, winning just 11 games in 2022, and with it a first-round exit in the Summit League Tournament.

Frustration was high for the 2022-23 season, but Hamling asserted herself as the unquestioned leader of the team. NDSU won 18 games, the most the Bison had ever won during the Division I era, finishing second in the league and earning a berth in the Women’s NIT.

All the while, Hamling knew she was in the spotlight.

“I'm Jory's first recruit, I really need to kind of get under his wing and tell everyone what needs to be happening and start a new culture here. So ever since ‘this is what needs to happen here. This is going to be our culture. This is how you present yourself off the court and on the court.’

Hamling earned first-team Summit League honors for the first time in her career, all the while moving up the all-time scoring list at NDSU. Because of the free COVID season handed out by the NCAA, Hamling decided to come back for a sixth season of basketball this year.

It was made even more special when her younger sister, Taryn, committed to the Bison and signed at NDSU in November of 2022. They have shared the court this year for the first time since Heaven was a senior in high school.

‘It's something that I could never dream of. I'm 23. And she just turned 19. That's my little sister who was on the eighth grade team when I was a senior.

I remember one time, she was so young, we were playing pickup with the varsity team. And she decided to hit me in the back, because she was so mad at me, my mom pulled her out of practice

and said grandma's coming to pick you out. And every time I think of that, now she's out here playing Division One college basketball, and get an opportunity at that. And sometimes we get to see the court together, it’s just amazing.”

Hamling is having a terrific finish to her career. She’s become the all-time leading scorer in Bison history in the D-I era and has moved to fifth all-time with 1,613 points. NDSU enters the final home game of the year on a seven-game win streak, the best that NDSU has achieved in Division I and there is a real belief they can knock off league power South Dakota State at the conference tournament next week.

It all started with that one meeting between Hamling and Collins five years ago.

“This year has been super special. It's been probably one of the funnest years I've ever been a part of, and just seeing everyone grow in now.

Seeing how we all celebrate each other is just something that I'm so happy about and it's super cool to see that.”