The Longmont area’s best girls basketball player is better known as a volleyball player.
It’s OK, though. Sydney Wetterstrom is making a name for herself on the hardwood as well.
“She was pretty much a double-double throughout the season for us,” Longmont coach Mike Knaus said.
The Longmont junior center helped the Trojans rip through the Class 4A bracket and land in the Final Four despite being designated a No. 6 seed, meaning they were labeled somewhere between the 21st and 24th best in the 32-team field.
For her playoff efforts and stellar overall season, one in which she averaged 18.5 points and 9.7 rebounds, the 6-foot-1 Wetterstrom has been named the 2015 Times-Call girls basketball Player of the Year.
“It was probably one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in a competitive aspect,” said Wetterstrom, a University of Michigan volleyball verbal commitment, of the hoops season. “Our team really grew together and our energy was just amazing through that whole run of games.”
Wetterstrom’s dominating, physical play in the middle keyed Longmont’s trip to the Final Four, a journey highlighted by an ousting of top-seeded Canon City on the road in the quarterfinals. The Tigers entered the matchup 23-0.
Wetterstrom registered 28 points and 16 rebounds in that one. Not shabby for someone soon to be playing Big 10 volleyball, for someone who spends her summers spiking rather than shooting.
“I have some basketball scholarship offers, and it’s just an honor to have those possibilities and opportunities,” Wetterstrom said. “You never know what’s going to happen, so to just know you have a backup plan, it’s pretty nice.”
Knaus understandably would be all for it if Wetterstrom reversed course and chose to play basketball in college. Granted, who wouldn’t feel that way after watching her put up 15 double-doubles in a single season?
“She’s mostly volleyball outside of basketball and track,” Knaus said. “But I keep telling her, keep doing everything because volleyball generally offers girls early in their careers. Basketball’s not like that. They usually wait until their junior, senior year. I think she’s just going to hang in there and see any of the big colleges offer anything basketball-wise, then she’ll make up her mind.”
The talent already was shining through last season as a sophomore, when Wetterstrom averaged 17.4 points and 11.2 rebounds. She even cracked the rotation as a freshman and averaged 8.5 points and 6.1 boards that season.
The best news for Knaus and the Trojans is that Wetterstrom still has one more year with the team. With fellow senior-to-be Madi Gaibler and a cast of promising youngsters, the Trojans figure to be primed for another push next season.
Maybe they’ll even have something as thrilling as that 61-48 win at Canon City.
“That was the most personally satisfying game probably, because they had such a good fan base,” Wetterstrom said. “They were very positive and just loved to watch the game. Even when we won they were very supportive. The game itself was really fun because we had the lead most of it and we really shut down some of their strong players.”
Canon City couldn’t say the same thing.
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