STEP BY STEP Forty-eight miles separate St

Forty-eight miles separate Sterling and Malta. ¶ Sterling, where 18 years of memories and several lifetimes of responsibilities reside for Aleena Hammelman.

Malta, where Kishwaukee College sits snugly against IL-38, and there exists a future independent from circumstances which demanded that Hammelman take on adult roles.

For many, moving away from home for college is a welcomed chance at freedom.

For Sauk Valley Media’s girls basketball player of the year, the commitment to Kishwaukee and its women’s basketball team has slashed at the fabric of her most cherished, most ingrained instincts.

The instinct to give, to care, to sacrifice everything for those around her. The family still healing from the deep wounds of loss.

The first step

Joel Cook had coached Sterling Christian girls basketball for 15 years when Aleena entered sixth grade. Never once during those 15 years did Cook take the sideline without a Hammelman on the court.

Gauging his roster that had two sophomores as his oldest players and a group of talented freshmen, he knew he had room for the gritty, passionate personality associated with the Hammelman name.

Cook had coached three of Aleena’s older sisters.

He broached the subject with Aleena’s mother, Pamela Cox Hammelman Posternack. Her maternal instincts wanted to deny the request. Aleena was too young to play on a varsity team.

“I had known the family for so long, that I promised that I’d always be there,” Cook said. “When we went on the road, she’d stay with my daughter. That’s what we ended up doing. She became close friends with Molly [Cook’s then-freshman daughter], and they were always together, and she became part of our family too.”

The memories are vivid for Aleena. Being the youngest girl on the team and playing against girls that were juniors and seniors.

She came off the bench for most of the season, but got her first start against Tri-State from Galena.

“I was so nervous going out onto the court,” Hammelman said. “I had played in other games, but this was my first start, and I didn’t want to let the team down.”

Starting became a habit. She held down the point guard spot her seventh- and eighth-grade years on teams that won ACSI national titles. She would have done the same her freshman year, but a broken ankle erased her season.

By the next fall, Sterling Christian no longer had a girls basketball team because of low numbers, and Hammelman had to start over with a new team and a new school.

The first day of summer practice, Sterling High School coach Julie Schroeder told the players to break up between varsity and fresh-soph teams.

The new girl, Aleena, started walking over to the group of younger players.

“I’ll never forget it,” Hammelman said. “Coach yelled, ‘Hammelman, you’re with varsity.’ I was shocked and I was worried that the other girls wouldn’t like me because I was new and coming in and taking someone else’s spot.”

The worries didn’t last long.

She quickly fit in with a group of talented juniors that included Lauren Hernandez, Nicole Renner and Angie Minnick.

Over the next two seasons, Hammelman helped the team to two NIB-12 West titles. Off the court, she became best friends with Hernandez.

“I had known her sister, Ashley, and so I knew about her before she came to Sterling,” Hernandez said. “I saw her play at Westwood with Sterling Christian, and I knew I wanted to play with her right away. I knew she was just the kind of player that we needed.”

The 2011-12 season was the first without Hernandez and company. Hammelman averaged 13.8 points and 7.5 rebounds and missed 11 games after breaking her ankle on Jan. 3. While the Warriors didn’t capture another conference crown, Hammelman returned in time to help the team earn its first regional title since 2007.

Drawing back from the court, the dribbling and passing, the defense and jump shots, seem very small. Even stretching back to her days as a sixth-grader on a varsity team, Aleena had a home life that would wear out most adults.

With four younger siblings, she often spent time changing diapers, washing clothes and cleaning house.

Then her mother got sick. Then her grandmother got sick.

Cook and his wife, Shawn, often watched in awe as Aleena became a primary caretaker.

“I think her mother taught her the importance of family,” Shawn said. “From a very young age Aleena took it on her shoulders to care for her family. The thing was if you didn’t know, Aleena would never show you. She showed up with a smile and played basketball and never said a word about it.

“To this day, I think there have been three times in all the years where she really opened up with me and let things out.”

Her mother battled breast cancer for 5 years. During most of those years, Aleena’s maternal grandmother, Bertha Cox, stayed with them as Alzheimer’s disease attacked her mind.

There were days at school, followed by practice, and long nights in the hospital. In between, there was running to pick up siblings and early-morning loads of laundry.

“I did my homework in the hospital,” Aleena said. “It was busy, but there was always time.”

So she ran with friends, and teammates, and coaches, and family keeping up beside.

She ran until she stopped in a hallway at DeKalb High School.

Hernandez will never forget the 180-degree change in feeling in the locker room in DeKalb after the Warriors had rallied for an overtime win over the Barbs on Jan. 28, 2011.

Hernandez scored 24 points. Hammelman contributed in her usual sturdy fashion. It was the kind of win teams use to build momentum down the stretch of a regular season.

Then the call came in, and everything changed. Aleena’s mother had less than 24 hours to live.

“I remember all of us running out into the hallway and forming a big circle around Aleena,” Hernandez said. “We were all crying. I’ve never been a part of something like that. We were all together there for her. It was amazing.”

Hernandez’s parents rushed Aleena home.

The next day Pamela Cox Hammelman Posternack died. She was 49.

< The steps ahead>

Forty-eight miles to Malta and maybe 10 more to DeKalb where Aleena will likely live the next 2 years.

Less than an hour drive back home, but so far away for the girl with five older siblings and four younger ones.

She’s always been in the middle of everything. How can she go away and leave her family?

“I’ve talked to everyone about it, and they all want me to go,” Hammelman said. “It’s hard because I’ve always been with my family. I know it’s the right thing for me, but it’s hard.”

“She’s got to be a kid for awhile,” Schroeder said. “It’s her time to do something for herself.”

So she’ll try. She’ll work on the jump shot she claims she lost over the last couple of years.

She’ll work, and no one who knows her doubts that she’ll do it.

Hoops will help her pay for her schooling.

After school and hoops are over, she wants to be a pediatric nurse.

“I’ve spent the last 5 years helping older people,” Hammelman said. “I still want to help people, but I think it’d be fun helping children.”