PHOTOS BY RICH HARDING, STAFF
By: Nate Calvin
With a second half free throw on February 4th at Patrick Henry, Wauseon junior Marisa Seiler became the third girls player in Wauseon basketball history to eclipse 1,000 career points.
Seiler joins Katie Griggs (1994-1998; 1,433 pts) and Ashley (Schrock) Oyer (1996-2000; 1,115 pts) in reaching the milestone. It has been accomplished seven times in all at Wauseon with Cory Griggs (1,374), Chad Burt (1,333), Jeff Bridges (1,108), and Austin Rotroff (1,057) reaching the mark on the boys side.
Seiler has seen plenty of basketball success from her siblings as well with sister Kaela scoring 1,000 points at Fayette and her brother Levi is a sophomore on the men’s basketball team at Malone University.
“This accomplishment means a lot to me because all the hard work that not only I have put in but also my family, has paid off”, said Marisa went commenting on the importance of the accomplishment.
“I would definitely not have been able to achieve this goal without the hard work and support of my teammates and coaches. I managed for my older sister’s high school team when they played in 7th through 12th grade and I had always looked up to all of the older girls.”
“Two of the girls on the team, one being my sister scored 1,000 points and after watching that, I knew that was going to be one of my goals.”
“Marisa has put a ton of time and effort into the game of basketball not only during the season, but also during the off seasons”, said her dad and Wauseon head coach Dan Seiler.
“She plays with her high school basketball team, AAU team and also on her high school volleyball team. Marisa is a student of the game. She watches a lot of film and continues to work to improve her skills.”
“If you don’t see her at the school working on her game you will probably find her in our barn shooting and making herself better. We expect a lot of minutes out of Marisa every game”, he continued.
“She currently leads our team in rebounds and is one of our leaders in assists as well. She has taken on a leadership role and is well versed in helping direct traffic on the court. Her knowledge of the game allows a coach to change things on the fly and make quick adjustments”, he added.
Seiler has received personal plenty of recognition in her first two years on varsity earning 1st Team NWOAL, 2nd Team District 7 in Division 2, Honorable Mention All-District, Wauseon Scholar Athlete (3.5 GPA or Higher) as a freshman and 2nd Team NWOAL, 1st Team District 7 in Division 2, 3rd Team All-District, Wauseon Scholar Athlete (3.5 GPA or Higher) last season as a sophomore.
Coach Seiler pointed to a couple areas of Marisa’s game that he has seen improvement during her time at the varsity level.
“Marisa has grown as a player tremendously in her three years on varsity. She had to learn and adjusted quickly coming into the varsity level straight from 8th grade. It was a big adjustment, but she handled it well.”
“It didn’t take long for other teams to focus on her defensively. She is normally guarded heavily and rarely gets lost by another team’s defense.”
“Another area of growth is her toughness. Handling adversity and the constant physical grind of each season wears on any athlete. Marisa has matured in both areas, and like any player will continue to improve”, he concluded.
Playing the season in the middle of a pandemic has presented Seiler and her teammates with a unique set of circumstances.
“This is definitely not the year we expected to have, but I think we managed to make the most out of it and I really learned not to take anything for granted.”
“Not getting to play with my teammates at all this summer made for a little bit of a rough start this season with seven seniors graduating and freshmen coming up, everybody had to figure out their roles quickly.”
“I knew that if we weren’t going to play much during summer I was going to have to work and push myself to get better on my own.”
“We always had it in the back of our minds that this could be our last game for a while, that’s a mindset that players don’t usually have during basketball season.”
Having watched older players reach 1,000 points when she was younger, Marisa has advice for younger players who have the same goals she had.
“I would tell them that it is definitely possible. Always work hard on and off the court and always believe in yourself.”
“You can’t practice and play just during the season you have to put time in throughout the entire year.”
“Also, appreciate your teammates and coaches and always have fun because before you know it, high school will be over.”
In closing, Marisa had a simple message from herself and her family. “We’d like to thank everybody in the community for always showing so much support.”
Nate can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com