Mortimer recalls the 'cutthroat' Damsels
This is part of a continuing series of articles spotlighting former Butler County area athletes and what they are doing now.
INDIANAPOLIS — Andrea Mortimer still recalls the anguish she felt.
She remembers sitting on the basketball court at Indiana (Pa.) University, Hershey's Kisses raining down around her as she pulled her knees up to her chin, yanked her Union jersey over her face and tried to deal with a loss to Conemaugh Valley in the PIAA Class A semifinal in 2006.
“That's definitely one of the games that sticks out for sure,” Mortimer said. “That was one of those 'what-if' games.”
These days, Mortimer has the title of coordinator of sports for the National Federation of State High School Associations.
One of Mortimer's responsibilities is to write and edit rules for various sports.
Unlike the NCAA, the NFHS has no jurisdiction over individual states' own rules.
“We provide materials for state associations,” Mortimer said. “They can come to us for direction, but ultimately, what they do is up to them.”
Mortimer, 31, has been in her current job for two years.
But so much more stood out for Mortimer, who graduated in 2006 with 1,550 career points for the Damsels.
“All of it,” she said. “Honestly, it's such a cliche, but the relationships and friendships is what made it special.
“I think it helped that we were such a small area and such a small community,” Mortimer added. “We grew up together and we had the same goals.”
The goal at the top of that list was to dominate.
And Union certainly did that when Mortimer, Beth Koch, Tiffany Corle, Nikki Davis and Janele Divins were on the court for the Damsels.The style of play was aggressive. The defense swarmed opponents the entire game with a full-court press or a half-court trap that caused turnovers in bunches.Those turnovers led to huge scoring spurts.Games were all but over within minutes when Union was on top of its game.“We were cutthroat,” Mortimer said. “We wanted to win and we wanted to win big. I can remember quite a few times when it was 20-0 really quickly.”Mortimer said that philosophy was born in practice, where the competition was fierce on a daily basis.“There was some blood drawn in practice, that's for sure,” Mortimer said. “We did not like to lose. We always went so hard in practice and when the games came around, we couldn't just turn that off. It was the only way we knew how to play.”Union lost just one game — during a three-game trip to Virginia to start the season — until it reached the state semifinals against Conemaugh Valley.In that game, Union fell behind big, rallied to take a lead, but ultimately lost by two.“It was the culmination of everything that got to me,” Mortimer said. “It was my senior year and I feel like we did so much.”Mortimer moved on and played for Penn State Altoona for two seasons before moving to Penn State's main campus to finish out her undergraduate degree.She got her Master's in sports management from California (Pa.) University in 2013.Sometime Mortimer said she regrets not playing college basketball for four years at a different school.
But Penn State was her only real choice out of high school.“I never even applied anywhere else,” Mortimer said. “It's a family thing. Sometimes I wish I would have gone elsewhere, I suppose, but I'm happy with the time I got to play at Penn State Altoona and the two years I spent on the main campus. I can't really complain.”These days Mortimer has the title of coordinator of sports for the National Federation of State High School Associations.One of Mortimer's responsibilities is to write and edit rules for various sports.Unlike the NCAA, the NFHS has no jurisdiction over individual states' own rules.“We provide materials for state associations,” Mortimer said. “They can come to us for direction, but ultimately, what they do is up to them.”Mortimer has been in her current job for two years.“I can't say I envisioned doing something like this,” Mortimer said. “But I really enjoy it. I really enjoy working in high school athletics and I'm happy I'm here.”
