In talking to sisters Celeste Hill-Hoffman and Sarah Hill, it really is difficult to decide which one is more excited to be in the stands and watch the other on Saturday, Feb. 4.
On one hand, you have older sister Hill-Hoffman being inducted into the Western Washington University Athletics Hall of Fame for her outstanding women's basketball career at the school during a 2 p.m. banquet at the Concert Hall at the WWU Performing Arts Center.
"That is awesome," Hill said in a phone interview. "To get a chance to see your best friend and sister recognized for the wonderful things that she has accomplished - it's amazing. I love her so much, and I'm just so happy for her. I think it's terrific. Of course I'm a little biased. She is my BFF, after all."
On the other hand, Hill-Hoffman - along with about 25 other close family members - will get a chance after the banquet to watch her younger sister play in the same white and blue uniforms she wore in the same Sam Carver Gymnasium she played during her Hall of Fame collegiate career when the Vikings host Saint Martin's in a 7 p.m. Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball game.
"Sarah and I talk just about every day," Hill-Hoffman said in a phone interview late last year. "It's great to be able to share that experience with my sister. I asked (coach Carmen Dolfo) if she's having flashbacks to my days playing there. ... It's kind of neat when you think about Sarah going through the same practices that I went through. I know how hard Carmen can work you to get you better. I have these images of her yelling out the wrong names - 'Celeste, you have got to rebound ... I mean, Sarah, you have got to rebound.' It's going to be great to see Sarah playing in our uniform in person."
Hill-Hoffman, who said she has watched her sister play in numerous games on the Internet over the past three months, and the rest of Class of 2012 will be honored at halftime of Saturday's game - an honor Hill and Dolfo will have to miss while they make mid-game adjustments in the locker room.
Even though she's playing for the same coach, Hill said she has yet to hear Dolfo call her by her older sister's first name, and when the coach does compare the two, Hill said "It's never in a negative way."
"There are a lot of similarities between the two," Dolfo said in a phone interview. "They have very similar personalities. They're different players, and they bring different things to the court but off the court, they have very similar, out-going personalities. But I haven't made that slip, yet, by calling Sarah 'Celeste.'"
Though their personalities are similar and basketball brought both sisters to Western, their career paths definitely have been quite different.
After graduating from Auburn High School, Hill-Hoffman was a four-year letter winner at Western and was third in the program's history among career leaders in points (1,658), second in blocked shots (163) and ninth in rebounds (752) when she graduated in 2001. She was selected to the WWU All-Century team and was a first-team Kodak and honorable mention Division II Bulletin All-American as a senior, after helping the 27-4 Vikings reach the NCAA Division II national semifinals after winning both the West Regional and Pacific West Conference championships.
"I'm really proud of her," Dolfo said of Hill-Hoffman's induction into the Hall of Fame. "I remember how hard she worked and what a competitor she was. She was such a hard worker, and she deserves this. I'm extremely excited for her."
Obviously, Dolfo is not the only one who is excited, as Hill said she can't wait to see her sister inducted.
"Honestly, I don't even know where to start when I'm talking about my sister," Hill said. "Initially, I got my love of the game from Celeste. I got to watch her play in high school when I was like 3 or 4 and got to see how important the game was to her. That kind of instilled the love of the game in me. She also helped instill the technicality of the game in me through her example and her words of advice. Celeste is a high school coach - she's kind of like a mini-Carm. She's helped me in so many ways."
Because Hill-Hoffman set a standard of greatness playing basketball at Western, Hill decided she wanted to blaze her own path after she graduated from Lloyd C. Bird High School in Chesterfield, Va.
"I started out in college playing volleyball," Hill said. "I thought Celeste did the basketball route, and I wanted to do my own thing, so I chose to do the volleyball route."
Hill chose the University of Maryland-Baltimore College as the place to play volleyball. She red-shirted the 2007 season, and then averaged 1.76 kills and 1.00 blocks for an 18-13 Retrievers squad in 2008.
"I started to realize that I missed basketball," Hill said. "I found out that basketball was my real love. I decided I wanted to play again, so I went into the basketball season at UMBC right after I finished the volleyball season."
Hill played in 12 basketball games at UMBC, averaging 0.7 points and 0.5 rebounds.
"I hit a little hiccup that spring," Hill said. "I got pregnant, and I put the baby up for adoption."
It's a decision Hill said she still, to this day, is comfortable that she made.
"I always think, 'What if?'" Hill said, "but I know I did the right thing. We had an open adoption. I know that my baby girl is loved and those parents are doing the best that they can for her. ... I believe that every baby needs three things - a mother, a father and unconditional love. I could only give her two of those things. That's why I know I did the right thing."
Hill said she has seen her daughter three times since the adoption and hopes to develop a relationship with her later in life if the youngster seeks it, but some people around her at UMBC were not as comfortable about her decision as she was.
That friction started to wear on Hill, who also realized more and more that she missed the sport she really loved - basketball.
"I was always thinking about basketball," Hill said. "Whenever I was in a gym, I was shooting hoops with a volleyball or playing basketball games at the rec center. I knew I loved it and I missed it. I wasn't getting along with the coaches, because some of the people there didn't agree with my decision to put the baby up for adoption. I wasn't happy at UMBC anymore, and I'm a firm believer you need to be happy, wherever you are. I knew it was time for me to leave."
Hill said she started looking to transfer, and she called her sister's old college coach about the possibility of coming to Western.
"I called her, and Carm said, 'For sure,'" Hill said. "I flew out here to try out. She said she wanted what I wanted, and I wanted to play basketball here."
That's exactly what she's done in this, her sophomore season.
In 19 games Hill, a 6-foot-3 forward, is averaging 4.1 rebounds and 3.3 points in 14.6 minutes per game off the bench.
"I think she's doing great," Dolfo said. "In high school, she didn't have a real scoring mentality. I think she has the ability to score, but she doesn't think about it much. It's been a progression for her. The biggest thing about her is her heart. She works incredibly hard. She brings that spirit with her and has the ability to get everything going. She's so athletic, and you can see her improving."
Perhaps nowhere was that seen better than on Western's trip to Simon Fraser on Saturday, Jan. 28, when she scored six points and grabbed four rebounds and had a big game defensively, Dolfo said.
"When we were in Canada, a lot of our posts got in foul trouble, but I was able to play solid defense and not foul," Hill said. "That's my role on this team right now. I'd like to become more of an offensive threat as a post some day, but right now I like to get the defense flowing."
And under the same coach that helped her sister to a Hall of Fame career, Hill is confident she will become an all-around threat over the next 21/2 seasons.
"It's really neat playing for the same coach that my sister did," Hill said. "Carm holds us all to a higher standard. She wants us to practice perfect so that we can play better in games. She wants us to play how we practice. I don't think I've been held to that higher standard before. But it's kind of neat now. It makes me work harder. It's pretty cool to when you think about how that helped my sister."
Reach David Rasbach at david.rasbach@bellinghamherald.com or 360-715-2271.
WWU HALL OF FAME SATURDAY
INDUCTION CEREMONY
When: 2 p.m.
Site: Concert Hall at the WWU Performing Arts Center
Admission: Free; attendees will receive a ticket to Saturday evening's women's basketball game
Class of 2012: Liz Bishop-Quitiquit (Volleyball), Jim Freeman (Cross country, track), Celeste Hill-Hoffman (Basketball), Craig Welty (Golf)
SAINT MARTIN'S vs. WWU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
When: 7 p.m.
Site: Sam Carver Gymnasium
Note: WWU Hall of Fame Class of 2012 will be honored at halftime
