Sayvia Sellers signs letter of intent to play basketball at University of Washington

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Earlier this year Sayvia Sellers verbally committed to the University of Washington, but now she has put pen to paper and made it official.

While Sellers said the process of getting recruited by major NCAA DI programs was fun, she is happy that it is over and she can get back to focusing on her game. She also said that the hardest part was having to tell the other schools that recruited her that she was choosing a different school.

“It felt good to just get the whole process over with, and being done with that. It was a fun process — but I am happy that it’s over,” Sellers said.

Sellers has found her name being tossed around alongside other female basketball stars that have come out of Alaska like Alissa Pili and Ruthy Hebard. Pili now plays for the University of Utah and Hebard, who played for the University of Oregon, now plays for the WNBA’s Chicago Sky.

However, Sellers has a chance to do what no Alaskan girl’s basketball player has ever done if she manages to make it to the McDonald’s All American game, which is open to only the top-24 ranked players.

Sellers is currently ranked at 28.

She held her signing at the YMCA because she wanted the moment to happen where it all started. When her grandfather and mother used to drop off Sayvia and her brother off at the YMCA, they couldn’t get the two off of the basketball court when it came time to leave.

Sellers isn’t the tallest guard standing at 5 feet 7 inches in height, but what she lacks in height she makes up for in basketball IQ — which is something that comes from studying the game.

“She literally will run her battery down, but it is literally from watching basketball games. If she plays a game at 6 o’clock, by 8 o’clock she’s re-watching it, she’s trying to figure out what she could have done differently as a player, as a teammate, and as a point guard,” her mother Tamika Sellers said.

You don’t normally see signings held in a gym but for this one it was necessary: family, teachers, teammates, old coaches and friends showed up to support Sellers on her big day. Another thing that you don’t normally see is a player signing their national letter of intent before their senior season, which means you still have a whole season to see one of the best basketball players — girl or boy— to come out of Alaska.

“Obviously I want to graduate college and I want to play professional basketball, if that comes around. But you know, I like winning,” Sellers said. “So I really want win a national title, that’s the ultimate goal.”

Before she can help the Huskies win a national title, Sellers is looking to help win Anchorage Christian School its sixth straight state championship and add to their 98-game win streak.

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