LC’s Lyndi Seidensticker develops hoops talents

There are moments that stand out more than others over a player’s athletic career. For Lewis and Clark High School girls basketball coach Jim Redmon, one moment involving his senior forward Lyndi Seidensticker gave a good indication of things to come.

“I still remember we were at Redmond during her sophomore year,” Redmon recalled. “It was a tie game, and Bre’ January had the ball and we set up a play for Bre’.

“They double-teamed, and she kicked the ball to Lyndi in the corner. This is the second or third game of her sophomore year, and she shoots the ball in the corner, hits it, and we win the game.

“It just kind of set the tone, and through the years we’ve just set up plays for her. As good as a shooter as she is, it has just made it easy because consistently she’s hitting those shots.”

In a program that has produced a number of NCAA Division 1 players such as Heather Bowman, Breann January and Katy Baker, Seidensticker patiently has waited her turn to become the leader of the Tigers, learning from those ahead of her.

“Heather Bowman – she’s been a role model” Seidensticker said of the current Gonzaga Bulldog. “I look up to her, and not only in basketball, but as a person. She’s a classy player, and that’s what I wanted to be like.

“It’s fun to watch the older players go on and be successful because it makes me want to do the same thing.”

“Overall, I think she could have been in other programs and been a leader,” Redmon said of Seidensticker. “She just has that kind of mentality.

“She’s selfless, she never worries about herself, and she worries about what’s best for the team.”

“Last year, she only started a handful of games and pretty much anywhere in the GSL she would have started every game,” he said. “She knew what the situation was and waited and came off the bench and did a tremendous job.

“I think those are the things when I say she leads by example. In some ways she was already a leader last year.”

“This year she’s stepped in,” Redmon said. “We lost six seniors, and she is the one who has organized the team. She has arranged the parents’ dinners, and in all those things she’s the focal point.

“I call her if I want to get messages out to the team. Being a captain is neat, but at our school it’s a lot of work, too.

“She knew that going in, and she’s really been a blessing for us.”

When Seidensticker arrived at LC four years ago, Redmon knew he had a work in progress that would require some time before the rewards would be seen.

“I think we saw the drive and the work ethic, but she was such a skinny girl that coming in you’d be afraid to have her banging around on the court, but she’s been one of the hardest-working kids in the weight room, and she finally started to put on some weight,” Redmon said of his 6-foot forward.

“She played JV as a freshman, and she always had that shooter’s mentality, so we knew we had a shooter. I don’t think we knew we had a shooter as good as she’s turned out.”

Seidensticker’s shooting prowess can be traced to one thing; practice, practice and then some more practice.

“Throughout elementary school, junior high and into high school, I always went outside and shot around with my dad in the icy driveway, and he would rebound for me,” Seidensticker said. “There were times when he would say ‘Why don’t we go shoot?’ and I would say it was cold outside, but I still did, and it definitely paid off.”

“I told all the college coaches when they were looking at her that here was a kid, when we get done practicing for 2 to 2 ½ hours, she’ll spend another half-hour shooting on her own every night,” said Redmon. “Not once in a while – every night.

“She has just made herself into a very good Division 1 basketball player.”

The hard work has paid off for Seidensticker, who has accepted a full-ride basketball scholarship to Montana State.

“It was stressful, but it was a good stressful, because it’s exciting when you make your decision,” she said. “It was fun because you get to see the different variety of teams, but MSU fit perfectly.

“I liked the coaches, the players, the style of play they were trying to push for, and I love Montana. My family is from Montana, and I just love being there.”

“I think the greatest pleasure I had is when she accepted her scholarship, that other people had seen her character,” Redmon said. “There were other colleges that wanted her.

“Idaho wanted her really bad because they saw what a neat person she is, as well as a good basketball player.”

“It was neat to see a scrawny kid coming in, worked her way to where there was more than one option to play college basketball,” Redmon said. “That was really neat for me to see.

“She really worked hard for that position.”