MOUNT VERNON — The scars that run from Alyssa Koller’s ankles to her knees help explain how she ended up with the Skagit Valley College women’s basketball team.

Looking at the scars, it’s no surprise that in the past two years she has spent nine months in a wheelchair.

“They ran a staple gun up my leg,” she says, following the scars up her left leg, then her right. “At least they match.”

What is a surprise is that eight months after getting out of the wheelchair, Koller is a big contributor for the Cardinals.

“You’ve got to be a pretty motivated kid to overcome two ankle injuries and surgeries at the same time,” Cardinals coach Steve Epperson said. “If you look at the scars on her ankles, they were significant injuries. To come back from that and to play to the level she’s playing at is terrific. It’s a little surprising, but she seems to have handled it well and just continues to get better and improve.”

Ankle surgery x2

At the end of the 2006-07 season, Koller was one of the best small-schools basketball players in Washington. She averaged 23 points and 16 rebounds for LaCrosse-Washtucna, which was good enough to earn first-team all-state honors.

In the latter part of that season, though, she could barely walk.

“I don’t really know how it all happened,” Koller said. “(The ankles) hurt really bad and I just didn’t tell anyone until I couldn’t walk anymore.”

The day after her senior season ended, Koller had surgery to put a bolt in the top of each ankle. She landed in a wheelchair for five months.

Then came the problems with the perennial tendon, the one that extends from the foot to the knee. In Koller’s case, the tendon had a habit of sliding around her ankle bone, then popping back into place.

More surgery — and four more months in a wheelchair — followed. Then came physical therapy and the slow transition back to walking.

“The wheelchair is not as bad as the walker,” Koller said. “When you’re walking through the grocery store and a cute little old lady passes you, you’re like, ‘Really? This is my life right now?’”

Becoming a Cardinal

Koller spent one year at Montana Tech, where she redshirted. She had hoped to play one season at the school, then latch on to an NCAA Division I scholarship.

By spring, Koller decided to move to Mount Vernon to live with an aunt and enroll in Skagit Valley College’s culinary program.

“In the six months I was in a wheelchair, I had a lot of time to think to myself about what I wanted to do,” Koller said. “My doctors had told me I’d never play basketball again. I was like ‘I don’t quite believe that.’ So I was looking at their basketball program and all I heard was good things.”

A quick e-mail to Epperson last spring got an even quicker response.

“I thought about that for about half a second, immediately e-mailed back and said, ‘Yeah, we’d love to have you,’” Epperson said.

And thus far the Cardinals have.

Koller is averaging 9.6 points and 8.4 rebounds per game, helping the Cardinals to a 12-1 record.

“She’s a great rebounder, a hard worker,” Epperson said. “She’s had to overcome a lot of adversity in terms of ankle injuries and being able to get back and play at the level she’s at, but what a pleasant surprise and what a nice recruiting coup for us to land her.”

Koller’s ankles are wrapped tightly with tape before most practices and games, though on occasion she uses braces.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be as good as I was,” Koller said. “I just have to become a smarter player. I know I can’t jump as high as I once did. Deb (Castle) and I are working on it. I don’t want to settle for something. I have to work on my balance a lot more. Then there was the year-and-a-half where I didn’t play much competitively. I was kind of rusty. I’m still kind of rusty.”

Having fun

Koller is clearly having fun with basketball. She laughs a lot, jokes with teammates and keeps the mood light in the gym.

“She’s kind of just the cowgirl from the middle of the state,” Epperson said. “She’s loud and friendly, excited about things and very excited to be playing. It’s fun to coach people like that who are just excited to come to practice and come to games every day.”

This could very well be the final stop in Koller’s basketball career.

Where basketball once dominated her thoughts, now she seems more focused on a culinary career.

“It’s definitely a learning experience,” Koller said of her injures. “(Before the surgery) I lived for (basketball). That’s what I did all the time. Now I appreciate it and I’m trying to get more life experiences out of it. It’s very real to me that I won’t have basketball forever anymore. So I go out and have fun.”

Eric Francis can be reached at 360-416-2131 or by e-mail at