USF Signs JUCO National Champ Point Guard

[Ricky the Bull]

to the women's hoops team.

Congrats Coach Fernandez!

USF Women’s Basketball Signs JUCO National Champion Point Guard Chanae Early  

Tampa, FL (May 13, 2004) – For the second consecutive season the USF women’s basketball team has signed a backcourt standout from an undefeated junior college national championship team.

Head women’s basketball coach Jose Fernandez announced today the signing of Chanae Early (Atlanta, GA/Westlake HS/Trinity Valley CC) to a National Letter of Intent (NLI). She will be able to play for the Bulls beginning next season and will have two years of eligibility remaining.

“We are very excited to bring in a player with Chanae Early’s experience,†said Fernandez. “Chanae brings a lot to the table at both ends of the floor. She makes an already strong point guard position – with Anedra (Gilmore) – even stronger and our backcourt will be that much more difficult to defend.â€Â

“Chanae is a very good signing for USF at this time of the year,†says Bret McCormick, managing partner of the All-Star Girls Report one of the premier girls basketball scouting and rating services in the country. “At 5-5 she is an extremely quick left-hander who is very athletic and her quickness makes her extremely difficult to defend and trap. She will fit right in with USF’s system. â€Â

Early, a 5-5 guard, helped Trinity Valley to the junior college national championship this past season in addition to a 36-0 record and a No. 1 ranking in the final National Junior College Athletic Association Top 25 poll. This marks the second straight season that the point guard for the junior college national champions has signed with the Bulls. USF Senior point guard Anedra Gilmore led Gulf Coast Community College to a 35-0 record and a national title at the conclusion of the 2002-03 campaign.

The two have recorded a combined 71-0 record in their last season running the point at their respective schools.

As a freshman at Trinity Valley, Early averaged 7.1 points and 3.7 assists per game as the Lady Cards won the conference title and advanced the Region XIV final. TVCC would finish the season with a 30-1 record.

This past season Early finished the year as the fifth best sophomore junior college point guard in the country. She ended the campaign netting 7.9 points per contest and 5.4 assists per game while starting in all 36 outings. She also averaged 2.3 steals and 1.8 rebounds per contest for the national champions.

Trinity Valley is looked upon as one of the premier junior college women’s basketball programs in the country. The Lady Cards have won five national championships (1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, and 2004) and lost in the title game in 1995 and 1998. Since the 1991-92 campaign TVCC has recorded a 401-35 (.920) slate, and during Early’s two seasons with the Lady Cards the team has turned in an impressive 66-1 (.985) record. In addition, during that two-year stretch, Trinity Valley has been ranked in the top five in the national polls every week.

Early joins forwards Chi Chi Okpaleke (Tampa, FL/Tampa Bay Tech) and Nicole Munneke (Lino Lakes, MN/Centennial HS) who signed NLI’s during the fall early signing period.

USF advanced to the post season, this past season, for the first time in school history facing Richmond in the first round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament. The Bulls finished the season 14-15 and 7-7 (8th) in Conference USA.

At the beginning of the 2005-06 season USF will start play in the BIG EAST Conference, which has been one of the premier women’s basketball conferences in America. The BIG EAST has won five of the last six national championships and six in the last 10 seasons. Connecticut – in addition to this year’s championship – also took the title in 1995, 2000, 2002, and 2003, and Notre Dame took the 2001 championship. In addition, Rutgers also advanced to the Women's Final Four in 2000.

http://gobulls.usf.edu/Sports/News.asp?i=747&s=Basketball

[USFMikeB]

Sounds like our first year in the BE might be a good one for the ladies...

[bulls96go]

tough road, higher level of competetion.

looks like the ladies are loading up

go bulls

[smazza]

great signing