Sander's competitiveness paying dividends for Lewis-Clark State College

Jan. 19—Those who have coached Ellie Sander mention two things when talking about her: athleticism and competitiveness. The Lewis-Clark State College junior guard has been showing those two traits, and more, this season.

A Northwest Christian High School (Colbert) alum and Spokane native, her production has helped the No. 7 Warriors to a 13-2 overall record (9-1 Cascade) and she's quietly chasing one of the more impressive marks a basketball player can have by flirting with the 50-40-90 club (50% from the floor, 40% from 3-point range and 90% from the free-throw line).

"This year I think I've taken a jump in my skill and my shooting, specifically," Sander said. "This summer I worked a lot on my shooting and I'm shooting more now after school and everything. So I think there's definitely been a big change from my freshman year to now just in terms of my confidence and my skill-level."

This type of production hardly comes as a shock for those who know her and the type of drive she has.

LCSC coach Caelyn Orlandi often asks her players "can you beat yourself one-on-one?" Sander's response is usually a definitive "yes."

Sander isn't the most vocal of players. More often than not, she lets her play do the talking.

Having three older brothers, all of whom played sports, athletics were always part of her life. That and being the youngest of four helped her develop a competitiveness that's hard not to notice.

Perhaps one of the better examples of Sander's competitiveness is how she approached a drill the Crusaders ran called "beat the game."

Northwest Christian coach Geoff Tibbetts got the drill from an NCAA Division I coach. In the drill, there are five spots outside the 3-point line. Players have to make three 3-pointers in one zone before moving on to the next one. Once they go through those five zones, they have to make two 3's in a row at each zone after. When they're finished with the series of two consecutive shots, they go to whatever zone they want and make five shots in a row. And they have to do all of that within five minutes.

Sander's teammate, Avery Bowman, a college basketball player herself at Whitworth, beat the game in one of her earlier attempts. Sander didn't.

After, Sander kept insisting to try to beat the game. Eventually she did. But she kept going, not content with just succeeding within the five minutes. She wanted to set the record among her teammates. And she did, setting the mark at three minutes, 30 seconds, almost 20 seconds better than Bowman.

"Once you teach her something, and she wants to work on it, she's going to get better than anybody else at it on your team," Tibbetts said. "That's just who she is. That's who she always is. Her athleticism has always kind of just spoken for itself. So it's just a matter of when she gets her mind on 'I want to be really good at this, I want to learn how to do this really well, and I want to get really good at it,' she'll learn how to do it, and then she'll get to work and she will get it done."

Sander's competitiveness isn't limited to practices.

She helped lead the Crusaders to a Washington class 2B state softball championship (her play on the softball field earned her the nickname "Gameday") and helped Northwest Christian to a semifinal appearance in the girls basketball state tournament her junior year. The Crusaders were the No. 14-seed in the State tournament that season and the only team seeded outside the top four to make the semifinals.

Sander's senior year wasn't the grand finale to her prep career she had hoped.

Northwest Christian, along with many other high schools in the country, was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Sander's senior softball season was canceled and her last basketball season was abridged and took place in the late spring. A few games Sander played having already graduated.

Despite the impact COVID-19 had in her last season of prep athletics, she still found success. She led the basketball team in points, rebounds, blocks, field goals made, 3-pointers made and free throws made.

Sander was also able to compete in a couple of summer tournaments in 2021 with her AAU team, the Spokane Stars. One of those tournaments was in Moscow, which Orlandi was able to attend, then as an assistant coach. Usually, AAU tournaments featuring teams of the notoriety of the Stars take place either in Spokane or other Pacific Northwest metros like Portland. But the COVID-19 pandemic forced a couple of tournaments to be located in more local areas.

Having seen Sander play first-hand, the Warriors gave her an offer. Even with offers from NCAA Division-III schools, Sander signed with LCSC.

"You notice Ellie right away," Orlandi said. "She's so athletic, she can jump out of the gym, she's crazy fast. And she's playing on, at that point, one of the best teams in Spokane and around the area and she's just dominating."

Sander quickly made the adjustment from high school to college. With the Crusaders, Sander had been the go-to player for nearly every facet of the game. With the Warriors, she was surrounded by as many as five all-conference players. She didn't have that kind of responsibility to do everything like she did in high school.

Sander got significant playing time her freshman year and had a pair of double-doubles in postseason competition.

Sander has continued to improve since. She nearly doubled her offensive production her sophomore year and in her junior year this season, she's had five games of 15-plus points, including a career-high 28 on Jan. 5 against Eastern Oregon.

Sander is second on the team in scoring this season, averaging 13.3 points per game, and leads the team in assists with 3.8 per game. She mostly plays at the two-guard spot or on the wing for the Warriors, making her assist totals all the more impressive.

Her leadership on the team has also grown. Sander is one of four upperclassmen with fellow junior Mataya Green and seniors Callie Stevens and Maddie Holm. She isn't the most vocal of the four, but in her spare time, she's been making sure to get extra shots in the gym and often brings her teammates along with her. Sander's play on the court is also a perfect example of the unselfish basketball LCSC preaches.

Orlandi stated that despite Sander's ability as a scorer, the team doesn't always need her to score 15-plus every game. Sometimes, as Sander has done this season, they'll need her to facilitate or jump in the passing lanes for steals or, as she did against then-No. 20 Southern Oregon, sprint from across the court to make a block.

"I just need to keep putting in that extra work and stay confident," Sander said. "My last game (Saturday against Oregon Tech) I didn't do as well as I wanted to. So, (I just need to) keep my confidence up and let that game go and know that I'm going to come out and do even better in this next half of the season we have left."

Sander's competitiveness and drive has always been apparent by those who know her. Now, everyone else is starting to take notice, too.

Kowatsch can be contacted at 208-848-2268, tkowatsch@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @Teren_Kowatsch.