HARDIN — Inside their Hardin home, a pair of very proud grandparents sit in their recliners recalling a little girl who once shot hoops on a now-weathered basket in the yard.
That little girl — Courtney Vandersloot — is now a two-time WNBA champion.
“This is Courtney when she was drafted by the Chicago Sky,” said Pearl Vandersloot, thoughtfully paging through one of her many family scrapbooks.
Courtney, a five-time all-star, was the WNBA’s third overall pick in 2011, and Pearl is still in awe at how beautiful she looked on draft night.
“Here was our little Courtney, from her blue jeans and everything else, to being dressed up and I hardly recognized her at first,” she recalled.
There’s no trouble recognizing Courtney in a recent picture holding the WNBA championship trophy. It was snapped during Sunday's on-court celebration after winning her second WNBA title as the New York Liberty beat the Minnesota Lynx 67-62. The Game 5 overtime thriller left both grandparents with thumping hearts.
“Very much so, it was pretty wild,” said Bob Vandersloot.
Courtney was born in the Seattle suburb of Kent, Wash., but the home in Hardin is where her dad Bill grew up, where her grandparents still live and where Courtney has enjoyed so many memorable visits.
A dirt "court" where she used to shoot baskets has now turned to grass. But as recently as a few years ago, the decorated WNBA star welcomed challenges on that very spot from her teenage relatives.
“Of course, they lost — the boys — but they thought the girls had tricks up their sleeves,” Pearl said with an enthusiastic laugh.
No tricks. Just mad skills — and not by chance.
Courtney shared another photo this week — one of a note she had written in the third grade detailing her dreams of reaching the WNBA. On her way to achieving that goal, she turned heads and torched record books at Gonzaga University, also becoming the first Division I player, male or female, to achieve the combination of 2,000 career points and 1,000 assists.
That run included a 27-point performance in a win over Montana's Lady Griz.
“This is the headline that come out … Vandersloot-ed,” Pearl said with another giggle, pointing out the scrapbook newspaper clipping.
Though she didn't grow up in Hardin, Courtney twice sponsored high school trips for the Bulldog basketball team to attend women’s basketball camps at Gonzaga. Those generous gestures are among the reasons Bob Vandersloot chokes up recalling draft day when Courtney's dream was realized.
"I’m … I can’t say nothing,” he softly whispered, holding back tears.
However, Bob can humorously recall the time Courtney secured her grandparents first-row seats to one of her games.
"When they come running at you … I was afraid I was going to get hurt,” he said with a laugh, noting the size of some players.
Courtney’s first WNBA title was with the Chicago Sky. And as her family celebrates this one, they fondly remember her mother Jan, who passed away in June after a two-year battle with cancer.
Now at the end of 13 WNBA seasons, who knows what Courtney’s future holds? But joyful memories of her past will always be rooted under a weathered backboard in Hardin.
