Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012

By Carol Yerby

Head Coach Mary Pinkowski has welcomed six new faces to the Lawrence Tech’s first women’s varsity basketball team, building the roster to nine players who have officially committed to the University.

In bringing basketball players to the brand-new program, Pinkowski has stressed character before everything else in the recruiting process and feels her six new players have that and much more to offer LTU.

Three of the new recruits will be joining the Blue Devils at the guard position, including Kelsey White, a shooting guard out of Jackson Community College. White averaged 14 points per game, shot 81 percent from the free throw line and over 35 percent from the 3-point line. She currently holds the three-point record in the National Junior College Athletic Association, Division II, with 13 three-pointers in a single game.

White was named to the All-Conference Capital Area Activities Conference Red Division’s first team and the All-Area second team. White has proven to be a winner in the classroom as well by being named to the Academic All Conference and Academic All American teams for two years. She will study chemistry at LTU.

Another guard is Karlie Dieck out of Lake Fenton High School. Dieck will be her class Valedictorian, and is expected to graduate with a 4.0 GPA. She was a member of the National Honor Society, treasurer of her class, and received All-League Honorable Mention for basketball. Dieck plans to major in biomedical engineering.

The third guard to sign is Erin Cater from Springport High School. Cater averaged seven points per game, with 4.6 assists, 2.3 steals, and had an assist-to-turnover ratio of three to one. Cater broke the assist record for a career and a single season, pushing her to the third team of the Jackson area’s Dream Team. She also received the All-Conference Coaches Award and was named to the Academic All-conference team this past season.

White, Dieck and Cater will be joining guards Allison Bicknell and Danyel Strauss, who signed on with the Blue Devils earlier this year.

Coach Pinkowski added some experience to the forward/post position with two junior college players and a transfer student.  Jill Carland comes from Oakland Community College where she averaged 12 points, six boards, two steals, and two assists. Carland was named team captain this past season and also made the Dean’s List.

Jenna Repichowski comes from Lansing Community College where she averaged over 13 points and four rebounds per game, while shooting over 82 percent from the free throw line. Repichowski plans to study molecular cell biology.

Carland and Repichowski will be joining forward Jordan Strauss, who had already signed with LTU.

This is the second time Coach Pinkowski has recruited Jackie Hood. The first time is when Pinkowski was the coach at U of M Dearborn and signed Hood out of Lake Orion High School. Now she has two years of experience in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference to contribute to a young squad.

During her two seasons at Michigan-Dearborn, Hood averaged 10.4 points per game and led the NAIA Division II in offensive rebounds per game. Hood was named to the Dean’s List at Michigan-Dearborn.

Already signed at the post position the post position is Fairport standout Hali Butler. She averaged 18 points and three assists per game, while shooting 42 percent from the three point line and over 40 percent from the floor.  Butler was named Chagrin Valley Conference Player of the year. Butler is interested in pre-med studies.

Pinkowski believes each student-athlete she has brought in has demonstrated core values required to build a foundation to a first-year program and looks forward to being on the floor competing once again in the WHAC representing LTU.

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