Loras College Athletics

Justin Heinzen is in his 15th season as head women’s basketball coach at Loras College. Heinzen, the program’s all-time wins leader, has compiled an overall coaching record of 233-133, which includes four NCAA Tournament appearances in the last seven seasons. Through 13 years, Heinzen, a three-time conference Coach of the Year, has a 131-77 record in American Rivers Conference games.

2022-23 marked one of the most successful seasons in his Duhawk coaching career.  The Duhawks finished 24-7 overall and 14-2 in American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) play.  Some notable wins on Loras’s schedule were against #9 UW- Eau Claire, #9 Babson College, #23 Calvin University, and #20 Wartburg College.  The Duhawks finished second in the regular season and started the A-R-C tournament as the 2 seed.  The Duhawks beat Simpson in the semifinal and beat top ranked Wartburg, who was also ranked 24^th in the country in the A-R-C tournament championship, earning the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.  The Duhawks handled Knox College in the first round of the tournament but fell to #14 Trine University in the second round. 

Four Duhawks earned A-R-C All-Conference honors in Sami Martin and Cierra Bachmann receiving first team honors and Daniella Jarrell and Madison Fleckenstein earning second team honors.  Martin also earned Second Team All-Region Honors from D3Hoops.com and was a Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) All-American Honorable Mention.

The Duhawks were at the top of the conference in many statistical categories.  Loras was second in points, averaging 71.5 points, first in defense, holding opponents to an average of 53.6 points per game, and winning by an average margin of 17.9 points.  The Duhawks also had the most field goals made in the A-R-C.

Heinzen and the Duhawks faced a new challenge in the 2020-21 season as they played during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the young squad saw great success, advancing to the conference semifinal game and defeating then-ranked No. 4 Wartburg. The Duhawks secured two All-Conference honorees and the program's first D3hoops.com West Region Rookie of the Year in Sami Martin.

The success came off the program's historic 2019-20 season which saw the Duhawks finish with a program-best 25-4 record and the program's second at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament. The Duhawks scored the program's first NCAA win in the first round against the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and advanced to the Sweet 16 with a win against then-ranked No. 4 DePauw University. The tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, but nothing would diminish the achievements of the team. Loras advanced to the A-R-C championship and had four members earn All-Conference honors, two All-Region selections, and two All-America honoree.

The Duhawk tallied a 22-6 record and secured the program's first at large bid to the NCAA Tournament in its history in 2018-19.  Along the way, the Duhawks shattered eighteen school records and finished in the top 25 in the nation in 3 point % (7^th), Field Goal % (8^th), Scoring Offense (15^th), Free Throw Percentage (17th), Total Points (21^st), and Assists (25th). That success put a program-record four players on the All-Conference team and qualified for the conference tournament for the 18^th straight season before falling in the finals to Wartburg. The Duhawks have also garnered conference Defensive Player of the Year honors five of the past seven seasons. 
 
The 2015-2016 season saw the Duhawks capture the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament after compiling a 19-9 overall record (10-4 IIAC).  Senior point guard Katilin Phillips, the programs ninth member of the 1,000 point club, was recognized as the only female NCAA Division III student-athlete on the WBCA All-State Good Works Team in Indianapolis and followed with the programs first IIAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.
 
In 2013-2014, Heinzen led the Duhawks to a 19-9 overall record (12-2 IIAC) and their first outright conference title in program history. Individually, Katie Langmeier garnered recognition as the program’s first IIAC MVP and most-recent All-American.
 
In Heinzen's first season at Loras, he led the Duhawks to what was the program's third-best season in terms of winning percentage (.680) in 2007-2008. After a program-best 10-0 start, which was then a record for most consecutive wins in a season, Loras wrapped up the 2007 calendar year with a 23-3 record, good for seventh-best in NCAA Division III.
 
Heinzen has coached 32 players to all-conference honors, including 19 First Team selections. In 2017, Lori Obendorf was the first Duhawk to garner CoSida Academic All-American honors.  In the last 14 seasons, no women’s basketball team has been more represented on the conference All-Academic team than the Duhawks, who’ve totaled 86 selections.
 
Prior to arriving at Loras, Heinzen spent two seasons (2005-2007) serving as an assistant coach at Lakeland College under one of the NCAA Division III’s all-time winningest coaches, April Arvan. In two seasons at Lakeland, the Muskies went 34-17 overall, capturing a Lake Michigan Conference regular season and tournament championship while making their fifth appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
 
Heinzen graduated from Wisconsin Lutheran College in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in American History and a minor in political science. A 1999 graduate of Manitowoc Lutheran High School, Heinzen resides in Dubuque with his wife, Kristina, and two children, Paityn (6) and Brayden (3).