Investigators say an Eastern Michigan University basketball player was speeding without a seat belt when she lost control of her vehicle and hit an oncoming vehicle, killing herself and another student riding with her.
Twenty-one-year-old junior forward Shanisse Heady and 23-year-old Jordan Hopkins died about 1 a.m. Sunday in Ypsilanti Township, west of the school's Ypsilanti campus. Hopkins also was unbelted.
Heady was from Hazel Crest, Illinois, and Hopkins was from Dexter.
Washtenaw County sheriff's spokesman Derrick Jackson tells The Ann Arbor News that a 22-year-old Ann Arbor man driving the other vehicle was wearing a seat belt and sustained non-life threatening injuries.
Heady, who was a forward on the women's basketball team, transferred to the school from Seton Hall University in New Jersey in 2013. She was studying health care administration at EMU and was in her junior year. Before college, Heady attended Hillcrest High School in south suburban Country Club Hills.
"Obviously this is one of our toughest days as a program and for the entire Eagle Nation as we mourn the loss of Shannise," Heady's basketball coach, Tory Verdi, said in a statement. "No words can describe the feelings right now as we are truly devastated to learn of her passing."
The crash happened hours after Heady scored 5 points and grabbed 8 rebounds in the Eagles' 75-61 road victory over Mid-American Conference rival Toledo.
