AZUSA, Calif. -- Azusa Pacific women’s basketball head coach T.J. Hardeman has announced a 4-player recruiting class for the 2009-10 season, a group that will join a Cougar program that did not lose a single player from its 2008-09 squad to graduation. Three players join Azusa Pacific directly from successful high school programs, along with 1 junior college transfer, and all 4 newcomers won either state or CIF championships during their prep careers.
“Each one of these players comes from a winning program and knows what it takes to be successful,” Hardeman said. “They will join a team that learned how to play together last year and knows that it has the talent to win a national championship.”
Leading the group of prep stars is Calli Jackson, a 5-foot-9 forward who helped lead Oregon City High School to the 2009 OSAA Class 6A state championship. Jackson was second on the team in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 10.3 points and 4.9 rebounds for the Pioneers en route to all-state second team and all-Three Rivers League first team honors.
In the 46-37 state championship win over South Eugene, she tallied 9 points, a game-high 6 rebounds and 3 steals, sinking a pair of game-tying fourth-quarter free throws that helped Oregon City to a 17-2 run that helped the Pioneers pull away for good. Jackson was also the second-leading scorer for Oregon City as a junior, averaging 9.3 points with 3.9 rebounds in the Pioneers’ 2008 state runner-up campaign.
Also joining the Cougars in 2010 is Azusa native Morgann Ellis, a 5-foot-9 All-CIF first team guard from Bishop Amat High School. Ellis, a 3-time all-Del Rey League pick, was the MVP of the 6th annual San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Pasadena Star-News All-Star Classic, played April 4 at Azusa Pacific’s Felix Event Center. She averaged a team-high 15 points per game to lead the Lancers to the 2009 CIF Southern Section Div. II-A quarterfinals. Ellis played 4 varsity seasons for Bishop Amat, which won the 2006 CIF and state titles, was the 2007 state runner-up and won a pair of Del Rey League titles while racking up a 104-21 overall record during her 4-year prep career.
Versatile 5-foot-10 guard Whitley Brown won CIF titles in 2007 and 2008 at Whittier Christian High School, and she led the Heralds as a 2007 sophomore with team-highs of 12.0 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. Brown was the Alpha League MVP and the CIF Div. V-AA Player of the Year as a 2007 sophomore, but was limited to appearances in just 15 of the Heralds’ 32 games in her 2008 junior campaign due to injury. Whittier Christian moved to the Olympic League in 2009, and Brown averaged a team-high 11.6 points with 7.0 rebounds per game in the Heralds’ 16-12 campaign.
Junior guard Sarah Olivas joins Azusa Pacific from Fullerton College, 2 years removed from a 3-year prep career at Southland girls basketball power Troy High School in Fullerton. In 3 varsity seasons at Troy, Olivas and the Warriors went 90-6, winning back-to-back state and CIF Southern Section titles in 2005 and 2006. Olivas was named All-Freeway League first team as a 2007 senior after she helped lead Troy to its third consecutive undefeated Freeway League championship.
At Fullerton College, the 5-foot-6 point guard helped the Hornets post back-to-back 20-win seasons and claim the 2009 Orange Empire Conference title. She averaged 4.5 points, 2.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.3 steals per game as a 2009 sophomore, playing in all 34 games as Fullerton advanced to the California Community College Athletic Association Southern California regional final.
Junior center Kristel Eddington is also expected to return to the court in 2009 after redshirting the 2008-09 campaign to injury. Eddington played in 62 games her first 2 seasons at Azusa Pacific, averaging 3.1 points and 2.8 rebounds, and her return will bolster a frontcourt anchored by NAIA All-Americans Alex Moore-Porter and Kristie Hala'ufia.
“This group brings us strength at each position of the floor,” Hardeman said. “This new group, along with the return of Kristel Eddington from her redshirt season, will make sure that practice is competitive and that there is competition for every spot. In talking to each new player, they have all expressed a desire to fit in and help the team be its best.”
The full Cougar women’s basketball schedule will be finalized and released later this summer, but Azusa Pacific will open the 2009-10 campaign at home on Friday, Nov. 6. The Cougars will host Lewis-Clark State College in the fourth regular-season meeting between the programs in the past 5 seasons.
