Hillcrest’s Quentin Heady waited and worked hard. The inspiration? His sister, Shannise. ‘Every day, I think about her.’

Hillcrest’s Quentin Heady

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The senior guard/forward is always playing in memory of his sister, Shannise, who starred for the Hawks and at Eastern Michigan before she was killed in a car crash in 2015.

“Every day, I think about her,” Heady said. “It’s all I think about. It motivates me a lot.”

A motivated Heady is expected to play a prominent role this season for the Hawks.

That certainly showed Tuesday night. He scored 23 points and pulled down eight rebounds as Hillcrest beat T.F. South 80-68 in a Chicago Heights Classic pool-play game at Bloom.

Bryce Tillery scored 18 points for the Hawks (2-0). Akron recruit Darrion Baker had 15 points and six rebounds and Tolu Samuels added 14 points and 13 rebounds.

Romello Ali poured in 28 points and added eight rebounds for T.F. South (0-2). Caleb Newman scored 14 points and Daetwan Thomas contributed 13 off the bench.

Heady is carrying on a proud family tradition of playing for the Hawks. In addition to Shannise, sister Charisse, brother Jakobi and his mother, Jan Rife, also played basketball for Hillcrest.

“It means a lot to continue that for my family,” Heady said. “I really put my passion into it to do it for my brother and sisters and everyone.”

Heady grew up around Hillcrest basketball, even though he wasn’t always paying attention to the action on the court.

“That’s all I did when I was a kid was go to Hillcrest games,” Heady said. “When I was little, I wasn’t even looking at the game, really. I was just running around.

“I imagined playing for Hillcrest, though, and wearing the jersey.”

Hillcrest coach Don Houston knew Heady long before he was one of his players.

“He’s been into Hillcrest all his life,” Houston said. “The family is great. They’re truly supportive of everything. I’m going to miss him. But there’s one more coming down the line, so we’ll see how that works out.”

Heady has a younger brother, 11-year-old Zach.

Against T.F. South, Quentin got hot early, hitting his first three shots and scoring 14 points in the first half.

Tillery has seen Heady add a lot to his offensive game.

“Quentin has improved like crazy,” Tillery said. “Over the summer, I could see he changed a lot with his athleticism, his jump shot and everything. It’s great to have that from him, and I know he’s going to get after it on defense, too.”

Hillcrest jumped to a 19-10 lead in the first quarter and stayed in front the rest of the way.

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The Red Wolves rallied to cut down a 15-point deficit to 53-48 late in the third quarter but got no closer.

Heady scored seven points in the fourth to help seal the win.

“He’s going to be huge for us,” Houston said of Heady. “He’s playing really hard. He’s playing excited. We just have to make sure he does the little things right.”

That is what Heady is focused on as well.

“Defense is where I can make the biggest impact,” he said. “I’ve got to lock my man up, play great defense, stop them from scoring.”

A role player in the past, Heady has waited for his chance to be a major contributor for the Hawks.

After playing a bigger part in Hillcrest’s success as last season progressed, he’s ready to be one of the go-to guys this season.

“Everybody waits their turn,” Heady said. “You’ve got to wait your turn. I’m definitely excited to see what I can do.”

Steve Millar is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.