Wednesday proved to be a banner day for a crop of senior girls in northern Missouri, making official their collegiate choices to play basketball at the next level.
Highlighting the day was a signing ceremony at the Mercer High School gymnasium, where the Lady Cardinals high-scoring “Big 3” signed with schools in Maryville and Trenton.
Senior forward Bailey Owens, after her 2017 graduation, will play the next four years at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville for Coach Buck Scheel. In addition to Owens, Northwest, through Twitter, announced the signings of South Nodaway High School guard Mallory McConkey and Waukee (Iowa) High School guard Kylie Coleman.
Mercer senior point guard Nicole Kost and shooting guard Lindsay Wyatt signed with Jenni Croy’s program at North Central Missouri College, becoming the first of the Class of 2017 for the Lady Pirates. Kost will give the Lady Pirates a floor general to pair with current freshman Kendey Eaton for one season, before Kost likely takes the reigns by her sophomore campaign. Wyatt, the niece of long-time Lady Pirate assistant coach (and Mercer native) Lesli Collins-Wyatt, will add long-range shooting and a slashing style of offense to the NCMC game.
Coach Croy, during Wednesday night’s broadcast of North Central’s game in Creston, Iowa, indicated that, while not yet officially signed, at least two players, and perhaps more, from the immediate area are expected to ink with the Lady Pirates within the next couple of weeks.
The Class of 2017 has long been seen as a “banner class” of girl’s basketball players across the state of Missouri, with Chillicothe’s dynamite program celebrating the signing of two of its players to letters of intent on Wednesday.
Senior forward Whitney Clampitt has signed with the strong MIAA program at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas, while senior center Katelyn Parkey will be headed to Rockhurst University in Kansas City.
In audio provided by U-Click TV, Lady Hornet Head Coach Darren Smith saluted the life-changing day for his two senior standouts:
Mizzou Women’s Basketball head coach Robin Pingeton announced a trio of signings for the program’s 2017 recruiting class. Future Tigers Elle Brown(Columbia, Mo.), Nadia Green (Homewood, Ill.) and Kelsey Winfrey (Lebanon, Mo.) all inked National Letters of Intent to play for Mizzou on Wednesday.
Brown chose Mizzou over Wisconsin, Iowa and Iowa State, among others. She plans to pursue a degree in textile and apparel management at Mizzou.
Green is a versatile guard from the Chicago area with the ability to play multiple positions. A 5-foot-9 guard, Green averaged 15.0 points and 6.0 rebounds during her junior campaign. She earned 2016 IBCA Class 3A/4A Second-Team All-State honors and All-Conference recognition. Green elected to sign with Pingeton and the Tigers over offers from Cincinnati, Marquette, Purdue and Indiana. She will major in sport management at Mizzou.
Winfrey is the most decorated girls basketball player in Lebanon High School history. She already holds 21 school records after just three seasons, including career points (1,425), career rebounds (579), career assists (212) and career steals (320). The 5-foot-9 guard received 2016 First-Team All-State honors after averaging a school-record 21.2 points per game as a junior. Winfrey was highly recruited, but she chose to stay home and attend Mizzou over interest from North Carolina and Oklahoma State, among others.
