April 21, 2010
Contact: Greg Murphy
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Cleveland State women's basketball team strengthened its roster for the 2010-11 season with the signing of two junior college standouts to national letters of intent.
CSU head coach Kate Peterson Abiad made the announcement on Wednesday (April 21) afternoon.
Signing with the Vikings are Danisha Cole (Chicago, Ill./Colby C.C.) and Jamie Henry (Southmoreland, Pa./Westmoreland County C.C.). Both student-athletes will enroll at CSU as juniors and have two years of eligibility remaining.
"With the graduation of four experienced players from our program, I am excited about the opportunity to sign two junior college standouts who have played at the next level," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "This will give us an opportunity to bring some experience back to the team."
The duo will join guard Ondrea Hughes (Kalamazoo, Mich.) and forwards Brandee Kelly (St. Louis, Mo.) and Haley Schmitt (Columbus, Ohio) who signed with the program in the fall, as well as Shante Jones (Dayton, Ohio) who transferred to CSU from Iowa in January and will become eligible at the conclusion of the fall 2010 semester.
Schmitt, who signed with the Vikings during the early period in November, recently became the first signee in program history to play in the Ohio vs. Kentucky All Star game, finishing with seven points to help Ohio to an 84-55 win on April 10.
"Our class as a whole will fill many of the gaps that were left with the graduation of our four seniors," Peterson Abiad said. "The signing class is very diverse in that we have players at every position and have added depth, speed and size to our current team. I am looking forward to integrating the six new players with the returnees we have coming back."
The 5-foot-6 Cole was named to the all-conference team this past season after leading the team in scoring (16.8), adding 5.2 rebounds, 3.0 steals and 2.7 assists per game. Cole, who was also a standout at Von Steuben H.S., scored 421 points last season, ranking 23rd all-time in Colby C.C. history.
She averaged 12.5 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game during her first season at Colby.
"Danisha will bring a true point guard mentality to our program," Peterson Abiad said. "She has a tremendous amount of quickness and great ball handling skills to lead our offense. She will give us a play making point guard to compliment what we already have on our roster."
Henry, a 6-foot-1 forward, was named to the National Junior College All-American third team this season after leading all of Divison III in rebounding with 18.0 per game. In addition, she ranked 16th in scoring (17.6 ppg), while also adding 4.8 blocks. She shot 63-percent from the field, helping WCCC to a 21-6 record.
Henry set a school record with a 31 point effort late in the season and added a double-double of 16 points and 16 rebounds with eight blocked shots in the Region XX/District G Championship game to earn a spot on the all-region team.
"The energy and work ethic that Jamie brings to the program will be very refreshing and a welcome addition to the program," Peterson Abiad said. "She always strives to be the best player she can be and I look forward to seeing her grow and work hard to become a better player."
As a high school senior, Henry averaged 13.8 points, 15.0 rebounds and 6.3 blocks per game, while shooting 50-percent from the field.
The Vikings concluded the 2009-10 season with a 19-14 overall record and captured their second Horizon League Championship in the last two seasons to advance to the NCAA tournament.
