Michigan senior guard Veronica Hicks believes the Wolverines can push for a berth in the NCAA tournament.

AnnArbor.com file photo

Veronica Hicks has scored more than 1,000 career points, but she isn’t concerned about leaving a legacy in the Michigan women’s basketball program.

Hicks, the only senior on Michigan’s roster, leads the Wolverines in scoring, assists and rebounds this season, but the balance she provides to the team goes beyond statistics.

Instead, her faith tells her that everything happens for a reason and that God is in control of what ultimately takes place. Hicks is driven to do what she can to get Michigan (14-10, 9-4 Big Ten) to the NCAA tournament for the first time in a decade, but her passion has its limits.

"I think there's a fine line between being committed and being insane," Michigan women's basketball coach Kevin Borseth said on Tuesday. "I think she's committed. She's got balance in her life that some players that are so driven that they make 1,000 shots a day then they go home and watch video don't have."

Don't mistake balance for a lack of effort. Hicks often arrives early for practice. She is dedicated in the weight room. But she says that basketball is just a sliver of life's pie, leaving room for academic achievement, friends, family and faith. And not necessarily in that order.

Hicks has been an Academic All-Big Ten performer the past two years while majoring in industrial and operations engineering. Her teammates consider Hicks the ultimate caregiver and role model.

For Hicks, it's just all part of living life - on the court and off it - the right way.

"Good things happen to her because she works - it's doesn't happen by accident," Borseth said. "Roni's one of these kids that gets every ounce of energy, every ounce of talent, every ounce of everything out of her because she is living each day to its fullest."

Michigan senior guard Veronica Hicks leads the Wolverines in scoring, assists and rebounding as her career in Ann Arbor winds down.

AnnArbor.com file photo

Hicks senses that those around her have put a priority on playing for her in a season that already includes two victories over five-time defending Big Ten champion Ohio State and a handful of other quality wins. While she's the Wolverines’ leader at 11.9 points per game, she hasn't burdened herself to overachieve.

"A lot of it is just realizing that basketball is about fun most of the time and (about) just trying to get better and wanting to get better," Hicks said Tuesday. "It's not a job to me. I don't feel the need to be out there in front of everybody doing stuff."

Michigan has spent the entire season in the upper half of the Big Ten standings and that’s where the support of her teammates comes into play.

"It has been said before, it's been, ‘Let's do this one for Roni,'" Hicks said. "And to see the seriousness that they have even though they're not seniors is really encouraging to me for them to want to give their all, even though they have more games to come."

Hicks’ teammates look at the 5-foot-9 senior guard and see a tireless worker who is being rewarded in her final season. On Sunday, Hicks surpassed the 1,000-point mark for her career in a loss at Michigan State. The two wins against the Buckeyes were the first of Hicks' career, finally giving her a victory over every team in the Big Ten.

But with four regular-season games left starting with a home date Wednesday with Indiana (7 p.m., BigTenNetwork.com), making a late-season charge is a priority. But as much as earning a NCAA bid would be the next logical step following last year's deep run into the Women's National Invitation Tournament, a trip to the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2001 would go a long way in sending Hicks out the right way.

And for Hicks' teammates, doing so would be the ultimate way of saying thank you for a player who has treated those around her as people first and players second.

"She's been such a huge part of our team for so long, and so her not being here is hard to imagine," junior guard Courtney Boylan said. "So it's definitely a major point for us to rally around her."

Jeff Arnold covers Michigan sports for AnnArbor.com and can be reached at (734) 623-2554 or by e-mail at jeffarnold@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffreyparnold.