Wetzel

BOONSBORO, Md. — She was a 2007 graduate of Boonsboro High School. Crossing the nearby Potomac River, Jerica Hewett (now Jerica Wetzel) came to play basketball for Coach Jody Runner at Shepherd University. Her coach for the first two years at Shepherd was Runner, followed by Melanie Ford as a junior and senior.

Her career for the competitive Rams was highlighted by her two seasons as team captain, as a multi-year starter at point guard, as the team’s three-year leader in steals, three-year leader in assists from her point guard position, 948 career points and 553 career rebounds.

Wetzel was literally “on the floor” more than anybody around — she was constantly diving for loose balls, in making steals and chasing down the opponent’s passes she had just deflected. Her bruises and floor burns could have been color-coordinated with Shepherd’s blue road uniforms.

She made her free throws, finishing her four-year career shooting about 80% from the foul line.

If any “Heart-and-Hustle” awards had been given, Hewett would have retired that trophy after the completion of her sophomore year. She wouldn’t have even needed her final two seasons of landing on the basketball court or flying over the sidelines toward the bleachers.

She was the Energizer Bunny, with bruised knees and ice packs on various parts of her body in the aftermath of games, or The Roadrunner, without the sound effects.

Her hustle was as much a part of her game as were registering assists or smothering an opponent’s offense.

She was both unselfish and unpretentious in her play.

The Rams recorded a 24-7record in her freshman season and went 15-14 when she was a sophomore. Runner left Shepherd and was replaced by her assistant Ford.

In Ford’s first season, Shepherd was 17-12 and in Hewett’s senior year the Rams went 15-13. In her four-year career with the Rams, they won 71 games and lost 46.

Wetzel has now returned to Boonsboro High School, where she is coaching the varsity girl’s basketball team, disproving the long-held axiom penned by novelist Thomas Wolfe, that “You Can’t Go Home Again.”

Wetzel is back on the Maryland side of the Potomac and has returned to Boonsboro High School to impart her ideas on the values of all-out hustle, bruises and stinging floor burns to her players with the present-day Warriors.