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MHCC basketball player splits time between two passions
The Advocate
MHCC freshman basketball player Gina Bianchi has a confession to make: "I Blip a lot," said an always-cheerful Bianchi Monday night.
Blip.fm is a music-sharing website that allows users to interact, give "props" and create a disc jockey name, a site that Bianchi frequents. The Carson City, Nev., native moved to Portland after graduating from Carson High last spring to attend MHCC on a basketball scholarship.
Bianchi, a 5'8" forward who averages six points and three rebounds per game for the Saints, said she has loved basketball since she began playing in third grade. Another love interest of hers: music.
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The self-taught guitarist is one half of the group Maekshift. The other half is long-time friend Sara Lancaster, who still lives in Carson City.
The name sparks originality, something most singer-songwriters strive for. Before Maekshift, it wasn't so original.
"We started playing open mic nights under the name Gina and Sara, but it was too close to the group Tegan and Sara," said Bianchi, who writes songs with Lancaster via Skype. "Sara came up with the name Makeshift but when I Googled it, there was something like 12,000 Makeshifts," Bianchi said.
But while double checking the name, a typo led to the name Maekshift, which aside from the spelling still holds true to its definition, "It's pretty funny the way it turned out looking back," said a cheerful Bianchi, whose outgoing personality is apparent in all aspects of her life. On the Lady Saints, she is referred to as "Spider-monkey" by teammates because of her energy and style of play. "Spiders are everywhere and monkeys are always flying around."
Bianchi is all business on the court — coming off the bench, pushing the pace and diving for loose balls — but also knows how to keep things light. "I'm the jokester, I'm always the one doing crazy things," she said. But she admitted that even though she likes to have fun, she never got into trouble growing up, something she knew better than to try with a juvenile parole officer as a dad.
"I never really had the temptation to do anything bad. It did help with peer pressure. I'd always say, 'Do you know who my dad is?'" said Bianchi. She remains very close to her family despite the distance, especially her dad Ben whom until this year had not missed a single one of Gina's games and flies up to see her play as often as possible. "I have him wrapped around my finger. We're very close."
Bianchi approaches her life with the same carefree spirit that she exudes in her music and says one of the main reasons she selected MHCC was because it is so close to the City of Roses, a city known nationally for its indie rock and singer-songwriter status.
"I had offers from other schools but one day I checked my voicemail and I had a message from Mt. Hood," said Bianchi, whose father attended Portland State and played baseball, "My dad told me that Mt. Hood was in Oregon and that immediately got my attention because I knew of all the awesome concerts that happen there. After looking into the basketball program, I pretty much made up my mind."
Bianchi, who seems to be split into equal parts fun, drive and talent, loves both basketball and music and doesn't want to give either up. As for the future, Bianchi said, "I don't really know what the future holds for me, but if I can do both for as long as possible, I'll be happy."
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