Neuqua Valley senior guard Mia Serra isn’t afraid of trying new things, even if they’re difficult.
After determining she wasn’t going to play basketball in college, Serra decided to try out for the track team in the spring in order to stay in shape.
“I picked up high jump after I didn’t do travel team for basketball,” she said. “I started halfway through the season last year. It is very tough.”
Yet the 5-foot-6 Serra is making strides and hopes to qualify for the state meet next season.
“State qualifying is 5-foot-1,” she said. “Right now, I’m on the border of 5-foot, so I’m almost there.”
But mastering the high jump is far from Serra’s highest ambition and isn’t the toughest. She said she intends to major in criminology.
“I want to be a homicide detective,” she said. “It’s very different. Someone’s got to do it. It is a little dangerous, but I think I can handle it.”
Serra doesn’t come from a law enforcement background. She got the idea to become a police officer after going to escape rooms in her native Chicago.
“There’s a bunch of different challenges, and you’re supposed to try to find the clues to escape the room in a network,” she said. “I got pretty good.
“That kind of got me into (policing) because I started being the leader and I figured out clues. It made me want to help out with the community and leading the way.”
Neuqua Valley girls basketball coach Mike Williams has seen Serra’s prowess in escape rooms firsthand.
“We did the escape room as a team last year,” Williams said. “She was good at it.”
Williams said Serra’s intellect and inquisitive nature make her a natural interviewer.
“She’ll be good at that,” Williams said. “She asks a lot of questions. She’s my question girl. Every time she comes up, doesn’t matter when, she’ll stop me and ask a question that’s random, out of nowhere. ‘What’s your favorite movie?’ ‘Do you like pizza?'”
There has never been a question about Serra’s attitude or importance to the Wildcats (7-4, 3-0). She is part of a deep bench of reserve players who don’t always get a lot of playing time but are capable of stepping up in the event something happens to the starters.
Which is why everyone was excited when Serra and guard Katie O’Donnell got starting nods on senior night against Metea Valley on Thursday, joining regular senior starters Zoe Navarro, Kylee Norkus
More Top Picks Best Standing Desk Converters Under 200
and Caitlin Washington.O’Donnell had five points, two rebounds, an assist and a steal, while Serra contributed three points, two assists, two rebounds and a steal to help the Wildcats win 71-34 in DuPage Valley Conference action.
“We need those kinds of kids,” Williams said. “They know they’re not going to get a ton of time. But they practice hard, and they make games easier for all of us, and that’s the nice part about it.
“You’ve got to give them a lot of respect and a lot of credit. Not everybody can do their job.”
Serra understands her job and cherished her first start.
“I love starting with my fellow seniors,” she said. “It was a lot of fun. I want what’s best for my team. I think I bring a lot of spirit because I’m always the one on the bench that’s getting up in the ref’s face, telling them it’s a foul, or cheering on my team.”
That’s appreciated by teammates like the Evansville-bound Norkus.
“She brings definitely a lot of energy on and off the court, a lot of very good spirit that keeps us going throughout the season, even during tough times, after tough losses or a great win,” Norkus said.
The Wildcats have come to expect that from Serra.
“She does bring energy and not just on game night but in practices,” Williams said. “She kind of keeps it light. She’s the smaller version of (2023 graduate) Tia Poulakidas, the mother of the group.”
After escaping the bench, at least for one game, Serra is hoping to get more playing time. In a few years, she intends to make sure perpetrators will have a tough time escaping justice.
Where, exactly, does Serra want to be a detective? Not a rural Mayberry-like town.
“I want to go back to Chicago,” she said. “I love the city. I miss it a lot.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.