Keller’s quiet confidence leads Pack

Ellie Keller is good at everything, according to her Glacier basketball teammate Emma Anderson.

“She’s just really easy to get along with and she’s an amazing basketball player,” Anderson said. “She’s got it all.”

She would know: Anderson and Keller, now seniors, have played basketball together since both were in fourth grade. Both are captains as well.

It’s been a breakout year for Keller, a versatile, well-rounded player.

She’s Glacier’s leading scorer and ranked fifth in the state with an average of 13.1 points per game and 144 total points, is also tops in the state in free throws, and second in free-throw percentage (3.91 per game and 43-for-54 in attempts), third in the state in assists and steals, with averages of 3.91 assists (43 total) and 3.01 steals (34 total) as of Feb. 13.

“I think she’s the best point guard in the AA,” Glacier coach Amanda Cram said. “I feel like her stats back that up.”

Keller also has a state championship in soccer to her name – she was part of the Wolfpack team that won the school’s first title in girls soccer.

“That was one of the coolest experiences,” Keller said. “The group of girls on the team were best friends. I mean, everyone dreams about going to a state championship and playing in it, let alone winning.”

On the court, Keller is what you might describe as a quiet leader who leads by example.

“She’s also not afraid to jump in the huddle and say, ‘Guys, this is what we need to do. We’re going to get it done,’ and just really hold her teammates accountable,” said Cram.

When the team really needs a basket and time is ticking away, Keller is usually the one called on. Her calm under pressure is the right recipe for a game that might come down to the wire.

“If it’s the end of the game, we want the ball in her hands,” Cram said. “Everything Ellie does is with confidence and she doesn’t get too excited, but she also understands when games are tight, what she can do and she can always get it done at the free throw line.”

Keller has been a starter since her sophomore year. During one crosstown game against Flathead that season, Keller made six consecutive free-throws that helped Glacier win the game.

Cram isn’t surprised that Keller is having such a great year. She spent extra time in the gym getting stronger and honing her craft, so this year was a natural progression of all that.

“I knew that she would contribute in a lot of different ways,” Cram said. “I started to really think this summer that she was heading a new kind of dedication and focus for basketball.”

Long bus rides are par for the course for Montana student-athletes, and sometimes passing the hours (some without cell service) can get tedious. Keller is one of the players who’s taken it upon herself to come up with distractions to stave off boredom and break up the monotony of those trips.

“I always try to bring a game or something fun to do,” Keller said. “We can get a little anxious for the game and it’s just hard sitting on a bus, honestly.”

Those distractions include games, stories and even karaoke. Keller always comes prepared.

“She always has some sort of fun story to tell or a little lesson to teach,” Cram said. “And she brings just a really unique vibe to the bus. She knows when to be serious, but she also knows when to let it go and just be a kid and she really enjoys her team.”

Though Keller adds she tries not to do her homework on the bus, instead working on it ahead of time. Off the court, Keller is a straight-A student with a 4.0 GPA.

“She’s super smart, which might not be something that everyone knows, but she’s taken the hardest classes in the school and has a 4.0,” Anderson said.

She’s not sure where she wants to go to school yet, but she knows she’d like to major in biochemistry and have a career in the medical field eventually.

“Ellie is extremely smart and it shows on the basketball court, but in the classrooms she is just killer,” said Cram. “She’s super approachable and just a lovely person.”

Keller has decided not to play sports at the collegiate level.

“It’s hard just knowing that’ll be done, but at the same time, I’m kind of ready to move on and past sports,” she said.

Keller is a typical teenager (though probably more disciplined than most) who enjoys hiking – in Glacier National Park, of course – and hanging out with her best friends, all of whom happen to play with her on the basketball team.

Glacier (7-6) has eight seniors – and they’ll play the final crosstown basketball game of their high school careers today at Flathead High School. The Pack claimed a 45-27 victory in their first meeting with Flathead this year.

“The last soccer crosstown was definitely bittersweet,” Keller said. “I didn’t think it would be that emotional, but especially this year, the atmosphere is just so much different. There wasn’t as many people as there normally is, but those are just the most fun games to play in, in high school.”