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BASKETBALL

Alissa Pili nets 31, Sayvia Sellers scores 15 as top Alaskans have first head-to-head meeting in Pac-12

by | Feb 3, 2024 | Basketball, Cover Story

Anchorage’s Alissa Pili and Sayvia Sellers faced off in the Pac-12 on Friday night.

The top two all-time scorers in Alaska high school girls basketball history faced off Friday night in the Pac-12 Conference for the first time – and they both lit it up.

Utah senior All-American Alissa Pili scored 31 points in an 83-65 victory in Seattle while Washington freshman Sayvia Sellers doubled her season average with 15 points.

The Rage City playmakers won five Gatorade Alaska Player of the Year awards between them and are the only two high school girls from The Last Frontier to reach 2,600 career points.

They never met head-to-head in Alaska, so this was something people in Anchorage have been clamoring for since Sellers signed with the Huskies.

The pilot episode of the Pili/Sellers Show didn’t disappoint.

Pili drilled 12-of-16 field goals, including both 3-point attempts, to go with five rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots.

This was her fourth 30 piece of the season as she raised her scoring average to 22.7 points on 59% shooting in 22 games.

Pili, of Dimond High fame, keyed a 10-3 run in the second quarter when the 20th-ranked Utes took control. The 6-foot-2 forward bagged six points, one assist and two blocked shots as Utah jumped out to a 29-20 lead.

She single-handedly produced all 15 points in a third-quarter surge that pushed the cushion to 53-38, scoring 12 points and assisting on a 3.

But she saved her best bucket for the fourth quarter, when she used a pump fake to set up a drive and made a tough finish over a defender on a quintessential ‘Pili Power’ play.

Pili increased her career college scoring total to 1,938 points as she inched closer to becoming the fourth Alaska woman to reach 2K.

She also reached the 500-point benchmark in a season for the third time in her career, ranking second behind only former Oregon star Ruthy Hebard of Fairbanks among players from the state.

FILL ‘ER UP
Most single season points at Division I

685 – Kelsey Griffin, Nebraska 2009-10
652 – Ruthy Hebard, Oregon 2017-18
643 – Alissa Pili, Utah 2022-23
595 – Ruthy Hebard, Oregon 2018-19
570 – Ruthy Hebard, Oregon 2019-20
551 – Ruthy Hebard, Oregon 2016-17
504 – Alissa Pili, USC 2019-20
500 – Alissa Pili, Utah 2023-24
483 – Jeannie Hebert, Miami 1991-92
480 – Kelsey Griffin, Nebraska 2006-07
480 – Chandice Cronk, Santa Clara 2006-07

Sellers was ready for the moment as she pumped in 6-of-10 field goals and logged a season-high 34 minutes off the bench.

Her 15 points represented a season high for Pac-12 games and came close to her career high of 18 set in the second game of the season against North Carolina Central. She came into the night averaging 6.7 points.

In high school, Sellers scored 2,651 points to break Pili’s all-time state girls scoring record of 2,614 that stood since 2019.

Sellers, of Mountain City Christian fame, hit two of four 3s and added three rebounds, three assists and one steal, which came in the first quarter and led to points in transition.

Story made possible by:

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Alaska Airlines | Nicole Johnston | Richard Mize | Advanced Diagnostics, INC | Aktive Soles | Alaska Oil and Gas Association | Aspen Endodontics | Black-Smith, Bethard & Carlson, LLC. | BOSCO's | Coho Financial Group | Continental Auto Group | Don Clary & Judy Besh | Glen Bailey | Invisalign-Ben Ward | JL Properties | Joey Caterinichio & Ja Dorris| Kathleen Navarre | Midas Alaska | Moose's Tooth, Bear Tooth and Broken Tooth Brewing | Perkins Coie - Sarah & A.J. Schirack | R&M Consultants, Inc. | Dave & DeAnne Rand | RE/MAX Dynamic Properties Kevin Taylor | Scott Taylor |Residential Mortgage | Seth Wickersham & Alison Overholt | Taylored Restoration | Korndrop Family Foundation | Arctic Slope Regional Corporation | Replacement Glass | Zareena and Allen Clendaniel | Foley & Pearson | UAA Seawolves | Tony and Carla Slaton Barker | Sportclips Haircuts | Alliance for Support of American Legion Baseball in Alaska | Alice & Gunnar Knapp | Amy and Jason Miller | Burgerfi | Charles Fedullo | Dan Rufner | Darren Lieb | In Honor of James Libby | Seawolf 5th Line | Deb Essex | Don Winchester | Donley Family | Dr. Justin Libby, DDS | Firetap | Harlow Robinson | Jason & Shannon Metrokin | Jim & Michelle Hajdukovich | Joe Alston | Kathie Bethard | Krispy Kreme | Kristopher Knauss | Loren Kroon | Mark and Jamie Johnson | Mark Silverman | On the Border | Pete Robinson | Rick Mystrom | Team Heat | Team Moriarty | The Conway Family | Todd Whited | Moria Smith | In memory of Drs. John & Elizabeth Tower | Peter Pounds | Pete Robinson | Skinny Raven | Multisport Training of Alaska/Lisa Keller | RSA Engineering

Family of Sponsors

Alaska Airlines | Nicole Johnston | Richard Mize | Advanced Diagnostics, INC | Aktive Soles | Alaska Oil and Gas Association | Aspen Endodontics | Black-Smith, Bethard & Carlson, LLC. | BOSCO's | Coho Financial Group | Continental Auto Group | Don Clary & Judy Besh | Glen Bailey | Invisalign-Ben Ward | JL Properties | Joey Caterinichio & Ja Dorris| Kathleen Navarre | Midas Alaska | Moose's Tooth, Bear Tooth and Broken Tooth Brewing | Perkins Coie - Sarah & A.J. Schirack | R&M Consultants, Inc. | Dave & DeAnne Rand | RE/MAX Dynamic Properties Kevin Taylor | Scott Taylor |Residential Mortgage | Seth Wickersham & Alison Overholt | Taylored Restoration | Korndrop Family Foundation | Arctic Slope Regional Corporation | Replacement Glass | Zareena and Allen Clendaniel | Foley & Pearson | UAA Seawolves | Tony and Carla Slaton Barker | Sportclips Haircuts | Alliance for Support of American Legion Baseball in Alaska | Alice & Gunnar Knapp | Amy and Jason Miller | Burgerfi | Charles Fedullo | Dan Rufner | Darren Lieb | In Honor of James Libby | Seawolf 5th Line | Deb Essex | Don Winchester | Donley Family | Dr. Justin Libby, DDS | Firetap | Harlow Robinson | Jason & Shannon Metrokin | Jim & Michelle Hajdukovich | Joe Alston | Kathie Bethard | Krispy Kreme | Kristopher Knauss | Loren Kroon | Mark and Jamie Johnson | Mark Silverman | On the Border | Pete Robinson | Rick Mystrom | Team Heat | Team Moriarty | The Conway Family | Todd Whited | Moria Smith | In memory of Drs. John & Elizabeth Tower | Peter Pounds | Pete Robinson | Skinny Raven | Multisport Training of Alaska/Lisa Keller | RSA Engineering

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