LARAMIE, Wyo.—She plays with a little bit of an attitude at a whole lot of altitude.
University of Wyoming freshman Chaundra Sewell made a modest jump from the 5,334 feet in elevation at Broomfield, Colo., to the highest collegiate court in the nation at 7,220 feet in Laramie.
But the thinner air has not deterred the 6-foot-1 forward from providing intensity in the post as she comes off the bench for junior forward/center Hillary Carlson, junior forward Jade Kennedy or sophomore forward Emma Langford.
Most freshmen hardly see the court during their first taste of Division I women’s basketball, but Sewell has already played in 18 games for a total of 167 minutes to average 9.3 minutes per game.
Sewell has already established her presence in the paint with a total of 47 points (2.6 ppg) and 39 rebounds (2.2 ppg), and her first memories of playing the game were of a defensive nature at 5 years old.
“In Colorado, they have a league called Little Dribblers in kindergarten. You get wrist bands with colors, and you have to guard the person with the matching color,” Sewell said. “I had a red wristband, and I had to cover a boy on offense and defense. I didn’t quite understand the concept, but I was playing defense.”
Over time, the red wristband was replaced with an Eagles jersey for the Broomfield girls’ high school team. That team dominated the Class 4A ranks with a 106-4 record during Sewell’s four years there and won three straight state championships from 2007-09.
As a power forward, Sewell averaged about 12 to 14 points, eight rebounds and just over three steals per game in her final three years. Those stats could have easily been inflated if it were not for one of her teammates being Anna Prins, a 6-foot-6 standout center who is now a freshman at Iowa State.
Sewell was a three-time all-state and all-region selection, was named all-conference four times and was the state tournament Most Valuable Player in 2008.
“What makes her so unique and good is that she is 6-1 but can guard about every position on the floor,” Broomfield girls’ head coach Mike Croell said before her senior year. “She is extremely athletic, a tenacious rebounder, and when she blocks a shot, she knocks it off the court.”
Croell also gave Sewell an early look at the Wyoming campus by bringing his teams to the Cowgirls’ summer basketball camps.
“I didn’t know who everyone was, and I saw Coach Joe (Legerski) all the time,” Sewell said. “I thought he was some guy who just hangs around the gym all the time and is really loud. As I got older and started showing interest in Wyoming, that memory became funny.”
Sewell ended up with about 20 offers to play college basketball, with requests from Iowa, Colorado, Northwestern, Oregon State, New Mexico, Colorado State, Denver and Montana State.
In addition to the coaches and her teammates at UW, one of the primary reasons she chose Wyoming was the pharmacy school. Sewell, a member of the National Honor Society in high school, was recently named to the UW Vice President’s honor roll after her first semester.
She also noticed the fan base that supports the Cowgirls even from a distance away from Laramie.
“I went to watch the team play in the NCAA Tournament in New Mexico (in 2008), and the fans at The Pit were amazing and crazy,” Sewell said. “I wanted to go somewhere where people would actually come to your games and support you.
“We have so many people rooting for us. I would go to the grocery store, and someone would walk up and say, ‘you’re No. 33.'”
“This is everything that I hoped for and then some,” Sewell said. “I’ve really enjoyed this, and never expected to be so close to all the girls on the team. The first night I was here, they were calling and asking if I wanted to hang out. Really, when it gets tough sometimes, it’s your teammates that keep your head up.”
So when opposing players drive down the lane for what may appear to be an easy layup, Sewell plans on backing up her teammates by drawing a defensive line in the sand with an attitude of … not here, not today or any other day for that matter.
But it is only a show of her intensity during a game.
“I like to meet new people, and I am a social butterfly,” Sewell said.
———
Information from: Laramie Daily Boomerang – Laramie,
