Snow excited to sign five new
women basketball players to join
returning players for next season
Apr. 26, 2018
EPHRAIM—Five new freshman players join six returning players on the Snow College women’s basketball team.
Mike Russell, their coach, is happy and excited about the five who have signed on—and about the upcoming season.
He said, “This is the most complete class—top to bottom—that we’ve signed in my three years here. We’re adding size and length, more athleticism and a lot of scoring firepower.”
He attributes a lot of the team’s success last season to the five players who stayed on: “We feel strongly that having six players with experience, while adding five very capable freshman to the mix will be the perfect combination for continued success.”
The Lady Badgers finished last season 22-8 and came in second in the Scenic West Athletic Conference.
The five freshmen added to the team are 5-foot 9-inch guard Claire Newby from St. George (Pine View High School), 5-foot 11-inch forward Samantha Barnett from Highland (Lone Peak High School), 5-foot 7-inch guard Rachel Richards also from Highland (Lone Peak High School), 5-foot 8-inch guard Tia Heggie from Cardston, Alberta, Canada (American Leadership Academy in Queen Creek, Ariz.) and 6-foot guard Rachel Roberts from Carlsbad, Calif. (San Marcos High School).
Newby was a four-year varsity starter in high school, and she averaged 11.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game as a senior.
Russell said, “We’ve been recruiting Claire since her freshman season, which is longer than any other player we have coming in.”
He added, “She is of high character, a great student and a great player. Claire is also very versatile, and we believe that she’ll be able to help our team in a lot of areas because of her ability to play several positions.”
Barnett averaged 7.7 points and 5.6 rebounds per game as a senior (2014-15) then suffered a knee injury. She served an 18-month mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Alpine German-Speaking Mission).
Russell said Barnett “brings a lot of maturity and leadership, as well as a toughness that’s hard to find. She plays so much bigger than she is because of how strong she is, and once she gets her legs back, I think it’ll be difficult for anyone (other than her) to get a rebound.”
In high school, Richards was a two-year varsity starter and averaged 7.8 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.7 steals per game as a senior.
Russell said of Richards, “She is an awesome, extremely under the radar, ball player,” and “she flat out does whatever she can to help her team win, and, quite frankly, we need more of that in our program.”
Heggie averaged 23 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 6.2 steals per game as a senior. She scored over 1,000 career points, scored over 40 points in a game three times and was a varsity starter for three years at her high school.
Russell said of Heggie: “Tia’s an unbelievable scorer, but the thing that makes her so good is that she gets it done on the defensive end,” and “she scores, she defends, she rebounds, she distributes,” and more.
Roberts averaged 13.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 2.3 steals and 2.8 blocks per game as a senior. She scored over 1,000 career points and was a varsity starter for three years at her high school.
Concerning Roberts, Russell said, “I think we’re getting a steal of a deal with Rachel because I believe she’s a Division-I talent. To have a kid that can literally play all five positions on the court is extremely rare.”
Summing it all up, Russell said, “I feel like we have done a nice job recruiting kids that fit our culture. From a character standpoint, academically and, of course, on-court ability, these new freshmen will fit right in with what we have established here at Snow. We are really excited about this 2018 class.”
