Wheaton College Alumni Magazine Winter 2015 | Page 12

sports

WHEATON

Stepping it Up
This All-Conference co-captain leads the women’s basketball
team both on and off the court.
by Brett Marhanka, Athletics Communication Director

10   

winter  

2015

Ellie Zeller ’16, co-captain of the Wheaton
women’s basketball team, came into her own last
year, going from a “sixth-man” role to a first team
All-Conference player.
The applied health science major not only
nearly doubled her points per game from her
freshman season—from 7.7 to 14.8—she also set
a school record last year by shooting 59.5 percent
from the field, the second-highest percentage in
the country scored by a guard.
Ellie played in every game freshman year, help
ing Wheaton to a berth in the NCAA Division III
Tournament for the first time since 2006-07. During her sophomore year she was a unanimous First
Team All-College Conference of Illinois and
Wisconsin (CCIW) selection, also earning First Team
All-Central Region honors from D3hoops.com.
“Her greatest strength is that she is intrinsically
motivated,” says head coach Kent Madsen. “She’s
an extremely versatile player in that she can attack
the rim through drives to the basket, she can
post-up players, she can hit the mid-range jumper,
and she has the ability to hit the three-point shot,
making her a difficult person to defend.”
Basketball was a part of Ellie’s decision to come
to Wheaton. After playing the game year-round
since third grade, she knew she needed to guard
against burnout. “Playing at a Division III school
like Wheaton is still a big commitment, but it’s
not as year-round as it had been in high school,”
she say ˈ8