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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Carrie Sanders Central Valley Year: Junior Sport: Basketball Position: Forward

One game Carrie Sanders leads Central Valley in scoring, the next it’s rebounding. Another time it’s assists or steals.

She does whatever it takes the Bears to win, and the Bears are - reeling off a five-game winning streak.

Work ethic was CV coach Dale Poffenroth’s short answer.

“There’s nobody that I’ve had for a long time that works as hard as this kid works,” he said. “She’s not fastest kid on the team but she wins all the sprints. Her success is directly attributed to work ethic. That’s something kids have a hard time understanding: They work hard in games, but if you work hard in practice, how much harder could you play in the game?”

Now Sanders has another role: team leader. Lisa Lentz, the Bears’ only senior, blew her knee out.

“Because Lisa is gone, it’s kind of my job to take over,” said Sanders, a pleasant if not fiery leader. “I try to be an example. I just talk to them if something is going wrong, whatever. And I have to take charge at practice.”

“Because of her size (5-9) and where we’ve had to play her (forward), she doesn’t handle the ball well enough (to be a top college prospect),” Poffenroth said. “She may come, she’s getting better. She’s a good athlete playing basketball but there’s a good basketball player in there.”