2008 Women's BB Recruits

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This is how a great coach operates. Bibbs seems to have gotten some good recruits.


DeBlanc to play for NC A&T
By Michael Love, Sports Editor
Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Nakia DeBlanc began playing basketball in eighth grade and she didn't know how far the sport would take her.

Four years later, the Woodland Hills 6-foot-2 senior center is on the cusp of her final varsity season with the Lady Wolverines.

DeBlanc also has made the decision to continue her education and play basketball at North Carolina A&T University next fall.



"(Woodland Hills) coach (Korie) Morton-Rozier really instilled in me the belief that I could make a future out of basketball," DeBlanc said.

"She knew I had the talent to use basketball as a footstool for college."

DeBlanc also made official visits to Ohio State, Robert Morris, Fordham, Hofstra and Duquesne.

She said that North Carolina A&T was the right fit for her.

"Coach Morton-Rozier said that when I step onto a campus, I'll feel if it's right," DeBlanc said.

"It's a family environment at NC A&T. The team lives together and hangs out together. As soon as I got there, I knew it was where I wanted to go."

The Aggies, members of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) finished 17-13 last year and took second in the conference in head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs second year as head coach.

"The program is growing," DeBlanc said.

"Coach Bibbs has really turned the program around. I wanted to go to a program that is growing. I want the chance to contribute right away."

DeBlanc leads the Lady Wolverines into battle this season with fellow Division I prospects Jamie Smith and Kristin Gates.

Eight seniors and all five starters return from a team that went 11-14 overall and 7-5 (fourth place) in Section 2-AAAA.

"We're excited about this season, but we don't let what anyone may say about us go to our head," DeBlanc said.

"We just want to work hard and prepare every day."

Coach Morton-Rozier likes where the program has come from just a few seasons ago when the team was 2-22 overall and went 0-12 in section play.

"It's great that we finally have girls going Division I," Morton-Rozier said.

"They are getting seen. It's great for the Woodland Hills program. Girls like Nakia, Jamie Smith and Kristin Gates are great role models for the younger girls. The girls have worked hard all summer in different leagues. They're taking nothing for granted this season."

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Briefs: Roddick wins, Blake loses in Davis Cup
From staff and wire reports
Saturday, September 22, 2007


Andy Roddick came through on a day James Blake picked a bad time to end two winning streaks.
Roddick beat Joachim Johansson, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-3, but Thomas Johansson defeated Blake 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, on Friday, leaving the United States and Sweden tied, 1-1, after opening singles of their Davis Cup semifinal.

• Top-seeded Tatiana Golovin defeated Meilen Tu, 6-3, 6-2, to advance to the semifinals of the Slovenia Open.

• Lindsay Davenport defeated Elena Dementieva, 7-6 (1), 6-1, and Jelena Jankovic beat Akiko Morigami ,6-3, 7-5, in the semifinal of the China Open.


story continues below




• Second-seeded Daniela Hantuchova defeated Chan Yung-jan, 6-4, 6-1, to reach the semifinals of the Sunfeast Open.
College basketball

• The Pitt women are ranked No. 18 in Lindy's Sports Annuals and No. 21 by Athlon Sports Annuals and WBmagazine.com. West Virginia is ranked No. 14 by Athlon and No. 24 by Lindy's.

• The NCAA women's tournament will have 16 sites instead of eight for its first two rounds starting in 2009.

College football

• Florida State suspended two football players after they were arrested in a bar fight that resulted in felony charges against one of them.

• Suspended Auburn running back Brad Lester has been cleared by the NCAA to return to the field for the Vanderbilt game on Oct. 6.

• Police arrested Tulane football player Ray Boudreaux in connection with the Bourbon Street stabbing that left five people hurt last weekend.

High schools

Woodland Hills senior Nakia DeBlanc made a verbal commitment to play basketball at North Carolina A&T. The 6-foot-2 forward also considered Hofstra, Massachusetts, Duquesne, Miami, Fordham, Robert Morris, Ohio State, and Boston College.

Volleyball

Penn State women's volleyball coach Russ Rose became the third coach in Division I history to reach 900 wins when the Nittany Lions defeated Michigan, 3-0.

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Area girls basketball players set for top camp
by Michael Love
Sports Editor
June 6, 2007
Woodland Hills seniors-to-be Jamie Smith and Nakia DeBlanc, Penn Hills' sophomore-to-be Davida Penn and Penn Hills resident Raediah Lyles, a student at Shady Side Academy, will join nine other area girls basketball players at the prestigious Adidas Top Ten camp in July.

All of the players selected for the camp are members of the Tri-State AAU basketball program, currently in its sixth year.

Players eligible for the Top Ten camp, set for July 9, 12 and 15 at Suwanee Sports Academy in Georgia, must be a member of an elite traveling program, sponsored by Adidas.




"I'm happy for each of the girls," said Kenny Hohman, who leads the Tri-State AAU program.

"This is the most successful traveling girls basketball organization in Western Pennsylvania over the past six years."

Through the the first five years, 111 girls participated in the program and 97 of them received some form of college scholarship.

Forty-three went Division I.

Players selected for the Top Ten camp went through tryouts during the Deep South Classic in North Carolina in April.

There are three divisions (grades 9, 10 and 11), based on what grade a player is in at the beginning of the season in March.

A group of 160 girls in each grade level are picked for the Top Ten camp.

At the Top Ten camp, each player takes part in two all-star games.

Twenty girls from each grade division are then selected to play in an additional all-star game.

"All of the top college coaches are there," Hohman said.

"You see a who's who of college basketball's elite coaches and the top high school basketball players in the country."

DeBlanc and Smith also were selected to the Top Ten camp last year.

The duo helped Woodland Hills to the playoffs again this season.

Smith averaged 20 points and five assists a game and was named a section all-star.

"Smith is one of the top point guards in the area," Hohman said.

"She sees the floor very well. She knows when to take over a game if she needs to."

DeBlanc, a center/forward, averaged 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Lady Wolverines.

"Nakia has a lot of talent," Hohman said. "When she realizes how good she can be, the sky's the limit."

Lyles joined Smith and DeBlanc at the Top Ten camp in 2006.

"Raediah is a tremendous athlete," Hohman said.

"A lot of people in the area don't know her, but a lot of college coaches do. She might be one of Pittsburgh's best-kept secrets."

Penn saw a lot of playing time this past season as a freshman on the Penn Hills varsity girls basketball team.

"Davida is another in a long line of talented post players from Penn Hills," Hohman said.

Hohman recalled the play of Lady Indian post players Connie Hurt (Pitt), Janie Killian (St. Francis) and, most recently, Taja Wilson (Michigan State).

The Adidas Top Ten camp originated in Pittsburgh almost a decade ago.

The Steel City hosted the camp for two years before the camp moved to its current location in Georgia.