First-year Wylie head girls basketball coach Nate Heckelman has led the Lady Pirates to a 12-4 overall record and 6-0 record in District 9-6A. Photo by Elijah Kloepping / C&S Media
By David Wolman
When Jessica Linson announced her resignation as Wylie girls basketball coach on Oct. 10 to accept the position of site athletics director at Douglass High School in Oklahoma City, Lady Pirates junior forward Ronelyse Hartfield was just as surprised as everyone else on the team.
It was the timing that shocked the Lady Pirates.
With only one month remaining until the start of the season, the players and coaches had the expectation that Linson was ready to lead Wylie during the 2025-26 season. Linson had led Wylie to plenty of success during each of her first two seasons, including a 43-20 overall record and back-to-back playoff appearances.
However, Hartfield, her teammates and coaches were understanding of Linson’s desire to advance in her career path and also appreciative of the standard of excellence that she upheld while at Wylie.
“I think we were all in shock because it was very sudden, but we were open to having a new coach,” Hartfield said. “We were eager to get ready for the season, so we weren’t going to dwell on that.”
Following Linson’s departure, Wylie went two weeks without a head coach. Yet, the Lady Pirates didn’t let it deter their focus. They had a season to prepare for. And what helped was that the players on the team had already built strong working relationships with their assistant coaches. It also helped that Wylie had an experienced group of players. Of the 12 players on the Lady Pirates’ roster, eight are either juniors or seniors.
Wylie ISD officially hired former Garland ISD coach Nate Heckelman on Oct. 23 as the next head coach of the Lady Pirates. Still, Heckelman didn’t officially begin his coaching duties until Nov. 4 — just three days prior to the start of the season.
With the understanding that Wylie only had three days to get ready for its Nov. 7 season opener against Ursuline Academy, Heckelman hit the ground running from the very moment that he stepped into the Montgomery Center for his first official practice as Lady Pirates head coach.
“He was very nice and very fun but straight to the point,” said junior guard Alyson Jeske. “We started doing drills and were getting better right away.”
Heckelman is a firm believer in the saying, “If it isn’t broke, why fix it?”
Given the amount of success that Wylie had under Linson, he didn’t change any of the offensive or defensive schemes.
The only thing that Hartfield said that Heckelman changed was incorporating more fast-break opportunities.
“He incorporated his own drills into it, but we didn’t change too much because what we already had in place was really good,” said senior forward Simisolaoluwa Shodunke. “It was very comforting, especially with the small time frame that we had before the season started.”
The chemistry and trust that Wylie quickly built with Heckelman — and already had with its assistant coaches — was evident in the team’s first game, a 61-31 win over Ursuline Academy.
That win was just the start of good things to come.
Wylie entered this week’s Dallas ISD Holiday Tournament with a 12-4 overall record, including a perfect 6-0 mark in District 9-6A.
And the Lady Pirates have been outright dominant at times. Of their 12 victories, eight have been by at least 10 points. Perhaps their biggest victory of the season was a 76-39 win against Sachse on Dec. 2 — a win that ended the Lady Mustangs’ 32-game district win streak.
Meanwhile, all four of Wylie’s losses have been by three points or less, including a 63-61 overtime loss to Class 5A No. 8 Amarillo.
“I’ve seen the hard work that they’ve put in throughout the beginning of the season until now,” Heckelman said. “Every day there is good competition in practice. It doesn’t surprise me with the success that they’ve had. They’ve had it before and we’re just trying to build on it.”
Wylie has also received significant contributions from freshmen Peyton Kelly and Sade Mathes. During the Lady Pirates’ most recent game, a 59-31 win over Garland on Dec. 19, Mathes led all scorers with 14 points. Kelly contributed eight points.
“Sometimes you have freshmen that come in that are scared, but they were ready,” Shodunke said.
Wylie is hopeful that the winning continues and will carry over into the postseason. The Lady Pirates have advanced to the playoffs every year since 2018 but they haven’t won a playoff game since 2013.
“We’ll be ready,” Hartfield said. “Our synergy is a lot better this year.”
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