Penchant for scoring, winning carries ex-CV star Emily (Westerberg) Love into Hooptown HOF: 'So humbling'

Jun. 18—Emily (Westerberg) Love remembers the first basket she ever made.

She was 3 years old and the lone girl on a boys team.

“I was terrified,” said Love, a former Spokane Stars, Central Valley High and Arizona State University standout. “Every single game I would go into the bathroom because I thought I was gonna throw up. My very first basket was scored on the other team’s basket. I was so embarrassed because it was a boys team and I already stood out. Humble beginnings for me. I’ll never forget it.”

Every basket after that — and there were lots of them, all made in the correct hoop — were instrumental in two Basketball Congress International (BCI) national championships for the Spokane Stars, two State 4A championships and one runner-up finish for CV, and NCAA Sweet 16 and Elite Eight appearances for ASU.

For that and many other feats, Love is being inducted in the Hooptown Hall of Fame 2026 class June 24.

It will be Love’s third Hall of Fame induction, joining her inclusion at CV and ASU.

“To have the recognition of being inducted into my hometown hall of fame is so special,” Love said. “It feels like legacy to me. To know the impact that I was able to have on the sport, in some small way on my community, is so humbling. There’s a lot of fantastic athletes, powerhouse athletes, out of the Pacific Northwest. So for Hooptown to acknowledge that I have a sliver of impact in the Northwest means the world to me and I’m thankful for it.”

Love lives in Peachtree City, Georgia, about 30 miles south of Atlanta. She plans to attend the Hooptown ceremony.

She led CV to an 82-4 record in three years, setting the school scoring record (1,460) that has since been broken.

In her final season at ASU, Love led the Sun Devils to their best record in school history (31-5) and a trip to the Elite Eight, a school first.

Along the way, Love made friendships that have lasted three decades. Her strongest bond began at age 11 when she and Aubree (Johnson) Chestnut, a star player from Post Falls, began playing club ball together. They made a pact to play in college together and they ended up in Tempe, Arizona, where, not coincidentally, they were co-captains for ASU their final two years.

They’re each other’s ride or die.

“She’s my soul sister,” Love said. “She’s profoundly important to me.”

A lot of life has happened since Love, 41, turned down an opportunity to play in the WNBA. She was drafted in the third round by the Phoenix Mercury a month after completing her senior season. Love and Chestnut had workouts with the Mercury and were even considering playing overseas when Chestnut’s parents were involved in a motorcycle accident. Chestnut’s father died and her mother faced a significant recovery. Love rushed to Chestnut’s side.

It was a second life crisis that Love helped Chestnut navigate. Earlier in their ASU careers, they were playing at a tournament in the Virgin Islands when Chestnut’s younger brother died unexpectedly of an enlarged heart.

“She’s one of the most incredible people I’ve ever known,” said Chestnut, who lives in Coeur d’Alene and will host Love and her children when they visit for the Hooptown ceremony. “We quickly just kind of had a different connection than anyone I’ve had with in my life aside from my husband. She’s been there through everything with me … through the hard times of my life.”

The friends walked away from basketball, deciding it was time to get on with life . Shortly thereafter, in July 2007, Emily and Grayling Love, a former football player at ASU, were married.

“There were a lot of things in the mix,” Love said. “But it worked out like it was supposed to. I’m so thankful that I can say I was drafted in the WNBA because even that opens doors for me now.”

The Loves have four children — a daughter who is a Georgia Certificate of Merit student who will be a senior in high school this fall; a son who will be a sophomore and has already received three offers to play college football; and two younger athletic boys going into seventh and third grades.

“It’s so scary. I shouldn’t be old enough to have a senior in high school,” Love said, laughing.

Life is a special organized chaos for the Loves. They balance full-time work with family, running from activities to practices to games.

Help is on the way. Love’s parents, who have lived in Spokane for 40 years, are moving a block from the Loves.

A certified life coach, Emily is co-owner of a business with two former collegiate athletes that develops leadership teams in businesses.

“Outside of raising my family, it’s work that I believe God put me on the planet to do,” Love said. “We just put together a mission statement for our business. My personal mission statement is I live to reflect God, to serve others meaningfully and to make this one life count for eternity. Basketball is a way that God gave me so that I could do more than just play basketball, but, ultimately, be a witness to something that’s something greater than me.”

Basketball has opened countless doors for Love.

“Oh my gosh, it is truly endless,” Love said. “There is not a thread in my life that basketball has not influenced.”

Three coaches made significant impacts on Love — Dale Poffenroth at CV, Ron Adams with Spokane Stars and retired ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne. Four, actually, if you count her first coach, Nick Westerberg, her father.

“Dale Poffenroth was kind of this guy that had this reputation as a real hard ass,” Love said. “We fell in love with each other. We learned to love each other in our own special ways, and he believed in me. That fueled me for the next level.

“Ron Adams put my development on the map. If it hadn’t been for the way he developed my skill, I don’t even know if Division I would have been something I would have been able to compete at as highly as I did.

“And then Charli Turner Thorne. The amount of respect I have for that woman is mad. I still text her. We talk to each other on birthdays and Mother’s Day. She influenced my character. I credit her with the development of my leadership. These people are embedded in the fibers of my heart. I would not be who I am today without these people.”

Chestnut is thrilled her best friend is being honored in her hometown.

“It’s very well deserved,” Chestnut said. “She was an incredible basketball player, but she did so much more than what could be seen on a stat sheet. She made everyone around her better. She played with a lot of fire and tenacity, but she also is incredibly gracious and humble. She made people better as people and not just players.”

Love has given much consideration to some brief thoughts she plans to share at the Hooptown ceremony.

“I want the youth who are grinding now in sports to know you never accomplish anything on your own,” Love said. “When we start to feel like we do, we lose touch with reality and it’s dangerous for our souls. No celebration is ever yours alone. The people around us, they are the ones that get us there. Ultimately, we’ve got to do the work, but they stand beside us and get us where we need to go.”