Ohio, Mankato West Hire, Lam Leaves

#1 posting 5.10.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

COACHING NEWS
Semeka Randall has been named the new women's basketball coach at Ohio.

Diane Johns has been named the new girls basketball coach at Mankato West. She has been an assistant at West for 17 years. From the Mankato Free Press.

Mike Lyons has been named the new girls basketball coach at Waterloo Columbus. He was the girls coach at Janesville, IA. From the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier.

John Steltz has resigned at Seymour, WI. He had a 124-100 record over 10 years. From the Green Bay Press Gazette.

LEAVING
Kelly Lam of Marquette will graduate in December and will not return to the women's basketball team. Lam averaged 5 ppg over two seasons at Marquette after transferring from Oklahoma.

HALL OF FAME
The Lillie Suburban paper looks at Diane Morin and her induction in to the Minnesota girls basketball hall of fame.

WIAC TOURNAMENT
It appears that the WIAC post season women's basketball tournament will lose two teams. The number of teams will drop from 8 to 6. From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

FAMOUS ATHLETES
The Star Tribune lists famous Minnesota athletes, probably in conjunction with the State's 150th anniversary. Janet Karvonen, the first girls basketball phenom, makes the list.

OBITUARY
Former Moose Lake girls basketball coach Bob Youso died of cancer Wednesday. Youso's 1982 team was undefeated and won the A State title. Moose Lake made four state tournament trips. From the Duluth News Tribune.

Next up: Later today with more reports from the Minnesota State AAU girls basketball tournament

MN Basketball News Players of the Year

#1 posting 5.8.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

PLAYERS OF THE YEAR
The Minnesota Basketball News has named their players of the year and all class teams:
A
First Team
Nicole Smart, Ada-Borup, POY
Bree Holleman, Hancock
Sari Noga, Parkers Prairie
Ashley Walterman, GHEC
Megan Myhre, Barnum
Second Team
Maria Ganglehoff, Sleepy Eye St. Mary's
Sam Lynn, Adrian
Jenny Ramey, New Life
Jessica Benson, Grand Meadow
Kendra Bornhoft, RTR
Honorable Mention
Autumn Beasley, Heritage
Gretta Hjelseth, Nevis
Katrina Newman, Barnum
Jenny Noordmans, Hancock
Brooke DeWall, SW Star
Abbey Evavold, Battle Lake
Sara Lutes, New Life
Emily Bose, Murray County Central
Alycia Dahl, Northern
Andra Gould, Wrenshall

AA
First Team
Brittany Chambers, Jordan POY
Hannah Linz, Eden Valley-Watkins
Kamille Wahlin, Crookston
Jenny Gilbertson, Winona Cotter
Angie Jetvig, Hawley
Second Team
Rebecca Friestleben, Holy Family
Jennie Noreen, Albany
Faith Tinklenberg, Pipestone
Laura Melquist, Rochester Lourdes
Alex Montgomery, Cannon Falls
Honorable Mention
Jennifer Lopez, DGF
Katie Pettit, HLWW
Taylor Voss, Albany
Leslie Wilson, Hayfield
Abby Busch, GFW
Leah Dietel, Jordan
Kiara Strickland, Mpls Roosevelt
Amber Dvorak, Hinckley-Finlayson
Renae Henjum, New London-Spicer
Sam Larsen, Albany

AAA
First Team
Brianna Mastey, Becker POY
Aaryn Booker, DeLaSalle
Hannah Draxten, Fergus Falls
Katie Loberg, Princeton
Lizzi Naumann, Totino-Grace
Second Team
Gabrielle Boever, Worthington
Maggie Bryant, Sartell
Jennifer Dowd, Rogers
Casey Mann, Rogers
Kassie Robinson, Simley
Honorable Mention
Cecily Checkal, Delano
Alia Cook, Hibbing
Megan Corradi, Chisago Lakes
Megan Erlandson, Minnehaha
Anna Full, Marshall
Anna Kovalchuk, DeLaSalle
Sarah Luse, Orono
Carolyn Mobley, St. Paul Johnson
Colleen Raune, Benilde-St. Margaret's
Veronica Scott, Totino-Grace

AAAA
First Team
Tayler Hill, Mpls South POY
Courtney Boylan, Chaska
Brittnye McSparron, Eastview
Kiara Buford, St. Paul Central
Megan Nipe, Centennial
Second Team
Shakila Boler, Bloomington Kennedy
Theairra Taylor, St. Paul Central
Jackie Voigt, Park-Cottage Grove
Cassie Rochel, Lakeville North
Stephanie Sension, Hopkins
Honorable Mention
Angela Christianson, Alexandria
Ephesia Holmes, Mpls South
Alison Johnson, St. Louis Park
Katya Leick, Park-Cottage Grove
Ali Schwartzwald, St. Francis
Jordyn Sears, St. Cloud Tech
Kate Thompson, Wayzata
Kiara Allums, Centennial
Kayla Hirt, Bemidji
Georgie Jones, St. Paul Central

Next up: More news of the day

Yackley Miss Basketball, Layman's Options

#2 posting 5.5.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

SOUTH DAKOTA MISS BASKETBALL
Alexis Yackley of Sully Buttes won the South Dakota Miss Basketball title. From KSFY.

LAYMAN'S OPTIONS
Former North Dakota State assistant women's basketball coach Kelli Layman is looking at different options. From the Grand Forks Herald.

OFF SEASON BASKETBALL
Hartland Travel Basketball Club has been formed to take care of players that want to play off season basketball in Michigan. From the Livingston Press & Argus.

AWARDS
Leslie Knight (Hopkins) won the Breakthrough Athlete of the Year in the second annual Golden Goldy awards.

Drake had their end of the year award ceremony. Jill Martin (Norwalk, IA) was the offensive player of the year.

STRINGER'S BOOK
Current Rutgers women's basketball coach and former Iowa coach Vivian Stringer is back in Iowa City talking about her book Standing Tall: A Memoir of Tragedy and Triumph. From the Daily Iowan.

Next up: the 14u championship from the Wisconsin State AAU Tournament.

Strickland Signs, Bennett Hire, Big 10 vs ACC

#2 posting 5.2.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

SIGNING
Here is the official press release from UI Chicago on the Kiara Strickland (Mpls Roosevelt) signing.

WISCONSIN HIRE
Here is more on the Kathi Bennett hire as an assistant at Wisconsin. The two have been rivals since high school days. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel states in the first paragraph Bennett isn't joining the staff to take over. The MJS also looks at the defensive skill set Bennett brings to the table. Also from the Capital Times.

BIG 10 VS ACC
Here are the match ups for next year
On Wednesday, Dec. 3
North Carolina is at Ohio State
Michigan State at Georgia Tech
Penn State at Florida State
On Thursday Dec. 4
Boston College travels to Minnesota
Northwestern at Clemson
Maryland at Purdue
Virginia at Illinois
Iowa at Duke
Virginia Tech at Wisconsin
Friday, Dec. 5
NC State at Michigan
Indiana at Miami

AWARDS
UM Crookston's Theresa Crance (Timber Lake, SD) earned the NSIC Women’s Student-Athlete Award for her school.

DO COLLEGE ADs CARE?
Brian McCormick says College ADs do not care about the women's basketball programs and in his blog he uses as an example the Southern Illinois situation.

3 Sign with Lake Region, 3 SD Players of the Year

#1 posting 5.2.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

SIGNINGS
Lake Region State in Devils Lake has signed three girls basketball players for next year:
Brittany Wirth of Munich-Starkweather
Mandi Bindas of Kindred
Vittoria Poole of Minot

ALL STARS
The North Dakota Lions Girls Basketball All Star Game has released the rosters. The event is divided by classes A vs B and will be at Bismarck on July 15, and Fargo on July 16. There are three players from the Fargo Area that made the list.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Maggie Malloy of Parkston, South Dakota was named Class A girls basketball player of the year. From the Mitchell Daily Republic.
Sophia McDermott of Aberdeen Central was named Class AA player of the year. You can listen to the podcast on the Aberdeen American News.
Alexis Yackley of Sully Buttes took the B player of the year.

HONORS
The Minneapolis City Council will recognize the South Girls Basketball team with a proclamation this morning at 9:30 am in the Council Chambers.

Next up: College reports

Thanks to all the readers who have followed the blog over to the new site. I have no clue when the original site will be unlocked.

College Coaching Changes

#2 posting 4.30.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

COLLEGE REPORTS
COACHING NEWS
Ohio coach Sylvia Crawley is headed to Boston College as we have reported before. Now you get the official press release from Ohio. Hopkins' Jackie Hiebert is a freshman at Ohio. Two 2009 Minnesota players had verballed Ohio: Kara Elofson of Hopkins and Tina Fisher of Park-Cottage Grove.

Denver will announce their new coach today. Sophomore Ashly Robinson of Bloomington Kennedy plays for the Pioneers.

AWARDS
Jeana Hoffman (Mitchell) is Athlete of the year at the University of South Dakota. From the Volante, the student paper.

Lakeland College has passed out awards at their end of the year banquet. From the Sheboygan Press.

SCHEDULE
In November Wisconsin will face Villanova in the Paradise Jam.

Next up: Later today with two out & abouts: NC Heat vs MN Stars Smith in the 16 quarters, and MN Stars Borowicz vs Metro Stars White in the 16 semis

Signings, and Transfers

#2 posting 4.29.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

SIGNINGS
Concordia St. Paul has announced and comments on the recent signing of Tori Lythjohan of Cedarburg, Wisconsin.

Valley City has signed two transfers--Abby Rittenhouse of St. Cloud State (Burnsville) and Caitlyn Wojahn of Sioux Falls (Milbank, SD).

The Rochester Post Bulletin has more on the seven players headed to Rochester CTC. I had the 7 up a few days ago.

Here are the latest five Kirkwood Community College signees.
Staci Gillum-point guard-Waukee HS, Waukee, IA
Andi Waugaman-post-Waukee HS, Waukee, IA. Andi Waugaman had previously signed with Upper Iowa (NCAA D-2) and now will be attending Kirkwood
Katie Hummelgard-post-Battle Creek-Ida Grove HS (BCIG), Battle Creek, IA
Kalli Hansen-wing-Olin HS, Olin, IA
Samantha Saladino-3/4 player, Davenport West HS, Davenport, IA

Alyssa Smith of Ellendale, ND has signed with MSU Bottineau. The 5-8 guard averaged 17.8 ppg in the 2007-08 season. From the Jamestown Sun.

COACHING
Sylvia Crawley, the Ohio coach, has been named coach at Boston College. I reported on the move yesterday. Now you can read the Boston Herald story.

AWARDS & BANQUETS
Purdue had their end of the year banquet and passed out their awards.

TOURNAMENTS NEXT YEAR
Iowa will be in the Paradise Jam next year and face Texas Tech, South Florida and California.

Next up: Later today I hope to have quick hits on five games from the MN Seeding tournament. They will be brief. No word on when the other site will be up again. Sorry for the inconvenience. I certainly didn't plan that.

Two Decide, Two Transfer, Retraction Request, Recruiting Tips

#1 posting 4.26.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

TWO COMMIT, TWO TRANSFER
Krista Pelky of Oshkosh West is headed to Michigan Tech. Pelky averaged 16.2 ppg for the state D1 runner ups this past season. From the Oshkosh Northwestern.

Megan Zilmer of Crosby-Ironton is headed to St. Catherine's.

The two transfers are Laura Kalbfell and Tiffany Good and both are headed to St. Catherine's. Kalbfell (Lakeville South) is leaving SW MN State and Good (North Branch) is leaving UW River Falls.

I will list all of these on the links on the gbbrecruit site (the original) when I am no longer blocked.

COACHING NEWS
Shawn Gravalin, Hankinson, ND coach, has requested a retraction from parents for statements they made against him. This is the first step in a defamation lawsuit. From the Fargo Forum.

SEASON WRAPS
Iowa has passed out their end of the year awards. Johanna Solverson won the Coaches award.

Illinois State has passed out their end of the year awards. Nicolle Lewis of Muskego, WI won the free throw award.

RECRUITING
On BMac's Blog he touches on recruiting and what to look for in players. UCLA men's basketball coach Ben Howland looks for three things.

NUMBERS, WINNING AND SMACKDOWNS
The Wages of Wins looks at the NBA playoffs and the numbers. Boston is supposed to beat the Lakers in the finals.

True Hoops has the Stat Geek Smackdown.

Next up: later today after the quarterfinals at the MN Seeding tournament

Five Signings, Mounds View Open

#1 posting 4.25.2008 (I know it is Saturday)
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

SIGNING
Victoria McGowan of Inkster, MI has signed with Bowling Green. From the Journal Newspapers.

Megan Homan of Des Moines Area CC is headed to Texas State. Homan is a 6-3 forward that averaged 5.3 ppg for the 24-8 Bears. Homan is from Remsen, IA.

Nicole Holmes of Mott CC is headed to the University of New Orleans. Holmes played her high school ball at Flint Central.

Whitney Lickteig of Dell Rapids, SD has signed with Mount Marty. From the Yankton Press & Dakotan.

North Dakota's Miss Basketball Christine Miller of New Town is headed to Williston State. From the Minot Daily News.

I will get these signings linked up on the first site when I am no longer blocked.

COACHING NEWS
Mounds View has posted their girls basketball job on the job posting on MSHSL website. This makes 17 known girls basketball jobs open.

The Des Moines Register has a feature on girls basketball coach Adam DeJoode of Southeast Polk, IA who is coaching IBCA Select again this summer.

AWARDS
Western Illinois has passed out their awards. Lindsey Wutt of Waterford, WI was named most improved player.

Next up: Later today with the week in review.