Grambling, La–With the No. 9 recruiting class in the country for the class of 2012 among mid-majors, the Lady Tigers are now playing with NCAA implications.
Last year their chance to play for a NCAA tournament bid was ruined by the Prairie View Lady Panthers in the semi finals of the SWAC tournament.
This year the Lady Panthers are picked to finish first in the conference and despite the Tigers being picked to finish sixth in Preseason South Western Athletic Conference Poll, they feel like with the talent on their roster they can take the finish at the top.
“We’ve did a great job with recruiting this year,” said Lady Tiger head coach Donnita Rogers.“We have some young players who will be getting the opportunity to play early and I think the fans are going to fall in love with this team. We hope this year we can finally get that number one spot,” Rogers said.
The additions to the Lady Tigers who signed on signing day include, Alexis Andrews (5-11, PF) from Kilgore Junior college, Dayla Threatt, (5-10, G) from Oklahoma City, OK and Bria Venson, (6-2, C) from Fayetteville, GA. They will join Gramblings early signees Maaeah Howell from San Francisco, CA and McDonald’s All-American nominees Savannah Carter from Tulsa, OK and Cierra Ceazer from Topeka, KS.
Key returnees from last year’s squad include senior guards Rachele Dobbins and Brittney Allen and junior guard Alexis Waston.
They Lady Tigers landed some top recruits for next year. ESPN No.71 recruit in the nation Alexus Johnson, a (6-2) athletic forward from Broomfiled, CO who finishes well around the rim and Breonna Johnson, a (5-11) three star forward from Little Rock, AR who’s ranked No. 44 in the nation at her position, both verbally committed to take their talents to Grambling for the 2012-2013 season.
Coach Rogers said the new Lady Tigers are going be exciting to watch. She said the fans could expect high energy, high tempo and high scoring. In their Black and Gold scrimmage against each other coach Rogers was impressed that both teams scored 71 points.
Their first game will be Nov.11 in a preseason match up against Paul Quinn in the Hobdy Assembly Center. Tipoff starts at 7p.m.
