The rules of play for the Cedar Valley Christian girls basketball team are pretty simple.

Call it the law of the long-armed: Place lanky and agile 6-foot Shelby Hembera firmly in the middle of the action and work everything around her.

On defense, her wide wing-span forces the other team to make passes to the outside. Or, if they dare, try to shoot over her.

If they miss, she’ll get the rebound.

On offense, Hembera towers over opponents. And she’s such a smooth ballhandler, she easily slides left or right around slower defenders.

“Yes, Shelby’s tall. And yes, she has long arms,” says Cedar Valley Coach Craig Foote.

“But what makes her so good is, for one thing, her determination. She just practices and practices until she gets something right.

“And she has great quickness and is a very intelligent player. She‘s just a special kid.

“I keep telling her all the time, don‘t be afraid to be great.”

Just seven games into her junior year, Hembera has already reached a milestone of having scored 1,027 points in her career (averaging 20.9 points per games since her freshman year).

She ranks first in the state among all girls in all classes this season with a 33-point average as well as in rebounding with an average of 15.4 per game.

She’s also in the top 10 in blocks with 21, a misleading figure since most know better than to try to score when she’s nearby.

“It’s one thing,” says Foote, “for her to lead the state in scoring. After all, she makes most of our points.”

In fact, she’s scored 231 of the team’s 250 total this season. In a 61-40 loss to Don Bosco last week, she scored all 40 of them.

“But,“ Foote continues, “to lead in rebounding when every team always triple teams her, that tells me something.

“Of course, you won’t hear Shelby say it’s anything special. She is very humble.”

Indeed, she’s the least-assuming star you’re liable to come across.

Extremely long-limbed even for a 16-year-old six-footer, she’s asked if she‘s likely to grow anymore.

“I hope not,” she says. “I like being tall. It’s good for basketball. But I think I’m tall enough.”

And while recruiters haven’t yet come calling to the tiny school and its gym/cafeteria, Hembera hasn’t given much thought to whether she’ll play in college.

“I love playing. But I’m not thinking about it right now.“

She has enough on her long-fingered hands leading her short-handed Huskies in another uphill season that finds them winless in seven games.

The team won four games in each of the last two seasons.

There have never been more than seven players on the roster. Last season, the team manager filled in and this year one of the cheerleaders has dressed in a pinch.

That lack of depth, says Hembera, is a big reason for their losing record.

“We sometimes lead at half,“ she explains. “But we get tired.“

There’s also the fact that many of the girls have never played basketball before.

Under Iowa high school rules, Hembera could still attend Cedar Valley and play for another high school if there weren’t enough players to field a team.

“I’ve never wanted to do that,” she says. “I love my school, and I love playing for my school. We’re like a family here. And that’s how I feel about my teammates.“

So each year, Foote rounds up enough willing students to form a slim roster around her.

“Without Shelby,“ he says, “we wouldn’t have had a team.”

When that was in doubt this past summer, however, Hembera did practice a few times with the Kennedy girls squad since she lives in that district and might have joined their team.

By all accounts, she acquitted herself nicely.

“She fit it very well with our team,“ says Cougar Coach Tony Vis, whose 7-1 team is ranked No.8 in Class 5A.

“She would have been a great teammate,“ according to star forward Paige Hendrickson. “There’s no question she could play in the Mississippi (Valley Conference). Shelby is very good.“

For her part, Hembera is happy where’s she’s at.

“I had a lot of fun playing with those girls,“ she says. “They were super nice, and it was a great experience. But I wanted for us to have our own team.“

Next year at least, Foote promises, she’ll have a chance to showcase her talents with a much more competitive group.

This year’s eighth grade team graduates eight players who put together a 9-2 record. One of them is Shelby‘s 5-foot-6 little sister Molly.

“I really like being around younger kids,” big sis Shelby says. “I think what I’d really like to do someday is teach elementary and coach.”

Foote knows his star player will be successful.

"The thing about Shelby is that as good as she is as a basketball player, she’s an even better person. For her, character comes first.

“I’ve been teaching and coaching for more than 20 years. And I can tell you that she can excel at the highest level.”

And he’s not just talking about on the basketball court, either.