M’caela or Lela, Kennedy's Sellers is a player

NORTH LIBERTY — M'caela Sellers has a new address. And thus, a new mailbox to fill.

A talented 16-year-old junior-to-be at Cedar Rapids Kennedy, Sellers made her Game Time League debut Wednesday night at the North Liberty Community Center.

Call her by her birth name. Or by her nickname, Lela (her older sister, Rachel, couldn't say 'M'caela' when the girls were little, and it stuck).

Either way, call her a player.

Sellers scored eight points on 4-of-7 shooting as her team (McCurry's/Culver's) rolled to a 92-71 win.

College coaches have taken notice. Sellers hasn't received any scholarship offers yet, but has received letters of interest from about 35 Division-I programs, according to her father, Rocky.

'Iowa, Minnesota, DePaul ... those are some of the big ones,' Sellers said. 'I went to Iowa's Elite Camp, and that was fun. I like when practice is that hard.'

Sellers averaged 12 points per game last season as a sophomore at Lakeville (Minn.) South, and has been a member of the powerful North Tartan AAU program.

Rocky moved to Cedar Rapids early in the spring to help run his nephew's curb-grinding business. The rest of the family followed in June, after school let out for the summer. They're renting a house for now.

'We love it here,' Rocky said. 'We picked Kennedy because three cousins already go there.'

M'caela is the fourth of five children born to Rocky and Jodie Sellers. She was OK with the move south.

'I was nervous and excited at the same time,' she said. 'I've been playing (summer-league ball) with the Kennedy girls, and they're very welcoming and nice. Coach (Tony) Vis seems like a good coach. He's a funny guy.'

Vis was in the crowd Wednesday. He declined to discuss Sellers because she has not yet enrolled for the fall term.

It's obvious that the lanky 5-foot-11 guard will be a key part of the Cougars' reloading effort in 2014-15. She can handle the ball. She can shoot. She can defend.

And she's an athlete. She went out for track for the first time last spring, and became a 60-second 400-meter runner and a 5-foot high jumper.

Rachel will be a senior at Kennedy and is a sprinter.

The majority of Sellers' shots Wednesday came from mid-range jumpers from the wing. She tried a 19-footer from the top of the key, hitting the back of the iron then falling through.

'It goes down in the books as a swish,' said a spectator.

Kennedy was 16-8 last season and reached the Class 5A state tournament. Four of five starters graduated from that team. That leaves senior Stephanie Botkin (10.6 points per game last season) as the unquestioned leader with Sellers joining key reserves Carly Langhurst, Sydney Hayden and Brinley Mibrath, among others, in what could be a very strong junior class.

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