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Summarized by Kent Larsen
Deseret News' Ms. Basketball Will Stay While Parents Serve LDS Mission
Deseret News 21Mar00 P2
By Clifton Schmidt: Deseret News prep writer
and
Sitterud Will Transfer to Lone Peak While Parents Serve LDS Mission
Salt Lake Tribune 22Mar00 S2
By Lya Wodraska: Salt Lake Tribune
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- The Deseret News chose Lone Peak High
School's Lana Sitterud as its 1999-2000 Ms. Basketball, the highest
individual honor for a women's basketball player in Utah. But
Sitterud faced a dilemna earlier this year when her father was called
as mission president of the LDS Church's Venezuela Barcelona Mission.
After initially considering going with her parents, Sitterud decided
to live with an older sister next season after discovering that the
high school in Barcelona, Venezuela she would attend didn't have a
girl's basketball team.
Sitterud lead Lone Peak High School to its second-straight 22-1
season, even though she was the only returning starter. She averaged
16.1 points, 6.5 assists, 5.3 steals and 4.6 rebounds a game and was
named Class 4A MVP for the year. But observers note that her success
came more from helping her teammates, "She didn't care how much she
scored. She could have taken over and scored 30 a game if that's what
we wanted to happen," said Lone Peak coach Shauna Kay. "Her attitude
was that she wanted her teammates to succeed. From the bench or on
the court, she focused on them being successful."
At first, when Sitterud learned that her parents would serve a
mission, she considered going with them when the mission starts in
June. But then the family learned that they would serve in Venezuela,
and, on investigating, discovered that the Venezuelan high school
didn't have a girl's basketball team. So Sitterud decided to stay.
"My parents wish I would stay there with them, but I kind of always
knew I'd come back," she said. "The decision wasn't that hard for
me." The Lone Peak Knights are pleased with the decision, which means
they will only loose Sitterud for the summer months, when she is in
Venezuela with her parents. "She is obviously the leader to our team
so having her come back is big," Kay said. "Having her all summer
would be even better, but not having her might be good for the rest
of the team because they're going to have to find themselves and
learn how to win without her."
Sitterud is being being heavily recruited, and is currently favoring
Utah, Oregon and BYU.
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