Women’s basketball is back at Bucks County Community College.
And Heather Weindorfer-Izzi is the coach who is leading the charge.
“I’m thrilled about it,” Weindorfer-Izzi said. “I always keep my eye open for something that interests me. I just lost mom in January and I take care of my dad so I want to stay close to home. I went to Bucks and checked it out. I’d never been there before and I thought the campus was beautiful and I was really excited about being there.”
The program has been on hiatus since the end of the 2020 season.
“It never went away,” BCCC athletic director Matt Cipriano said. “We never had any plan for it to go off the table as a sport. It was just finding the right applicants. We wanted to take our time and not rush to get someone. We wanted someone who was going be able to build the program, create stability and a culture. That’s really what it was about.
“We couldn’t be more excited to have Heather on board. She made her mark not only in our community but in New England. She has a lot of great connections and just being able to be someone who can help us build the program and have that as another featured varsity sport is just awesome.”
With the return of women’s basketball, the college now has six varsity sports; men’s and women’s soccer, men’s basketball, softball and baseball are the others.
“We’re very pleased to have that piece in place,” Cipriano said. “We have other club sports too, but we’re really happy to be able to offer women’s basketball as a varsity sport again.”
Weindorfer-Izzi is on the recruiting trail.
“It’s tough,” she said. “You have to find the student-athlete who’s going to fit in with the school as well as the team. It’s a small pool but you just have to be diligent. Luckily, I know so many people from coaching for so many years and I’ve been able to get the word out.
“I’m so excited to start something fresh and new. I can’t wait to get started and see where it goes. I really want to get the community involved. We’re offering some skills and drill sessions and that will help us get younger players onto the campus and see the school.
“You give me the kids on the floor and I’m going to make them into the best players that I possibly can.”
Weindorfer-Izzi has impressive coaching credentials, including stints at Bryn Athyn College and Gwynedd Mercy University.
She also coached at Lansdale Catholic, Central Bucks West and Lower Moreland, her alma mater, where she still holds the record for career points (2,340) for both males and females. She still ranks in the top 50 in the state of Pennsylvania for all-time career scorers.
She played college ball at the University of Hartford, where she is still the all-time leading scorer with 1,780 points in her career. She was on the all-conference rookie team and was first team all-conference in both 1995-96 and 1996-97. She still holds the single season record for scoring average with 17.9 points per game and free throws (568).
Weindorfer-Izzi is actively recruiting players. Anyone interested in trying out for the team can go to the website athletics.bucks.edu and fill out the Recruit Me form.
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