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High Schools
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Published: Thursday, November 13, 2008
Talent abounds with early signees
Five girls basketball players among local athletes accepting college scholarships
By Mike Cane Herald Writer
It's a talented group of hard-court heroines -- maybe the best Snohomish County has seen.
Five local girls basketball players signed NCAA letters of intent Wednesday, the start of the early-signing period for several sports. Four of the five girls accepted scholarships from Division-I programs. Three play on the same high school team.
The signees are Kamiak High School's Kelsey Patrick (Pepperdine University), Snohomish High teammates Katie Benson (Seattle Pacific University), Karley Lampman (Portland State University) and Ally Schmitt (Montana State University), and Archbishop Murphy's Alyssa Smith (University of Montana).
"This could be one of the top two or three (signing classes) we've seen," said John Barhanovich, Archbishop Murphy's head girls basketball coach.
Before accepting the Murphy job in 2005, Barhanovich coached at Cascade High, spending nearly a decade as the Bruins head coach from 1991-1999. He recalled several standout players from that era who received D-I scholarships (Snohomish's Milena Flores and Kirsten Brockman; Cascade's Ann McColl and Kayla Huss). Other past big-time recruits included Kayla Burt, a 2001 Arlington graduate, and the O'Neill sisters from Meadowdale.
"This group matches right up with that group -- very good, athletic players (and) hard-working kids," Barhanovich said.
The former players graduated from high school in different years, which makes the Class of 2009 so special. It's unusual to have such a large cluster of high-profile girls hoops recruits in the same season.
"It kind of runs in cycles. All the sudden here's this group that shows up," Barhanovich said. "They've put a lot of time and effort into it. They're good players and they get rewarded for it."
Last year, the local early signees in girls basketball were Jackson's Kristi Kingma (University of Washington), Meadowdale's Eryn Jones (Portland State) and Lake Stevens' Karri Gallagher (California State University, Sacramento). The trio attended large high schools (Class 3A or 4A), as do four of this year's recruits.
The exception is Archbishop Murphy's Smith, a 6-foot forward. Murphy is a 2A school but Smith, who lives in Monroe, got attention from college coaches by competing for a prominent select team. She said she received about 20 scholarship offers. All but a few were from D-I schools, Smith said.
"In my opinion, a kid at 1A, 2A -- it doesn't matter," Barhanovich said. "If they're a good player it doesn't matter the (classification) level. She's as good a player as there is."
Smith, the 2007-2008 Cascade Conference Most Valuable Player, grew up playing with Snohomish's Lampman and Schmitt. In college she likely will see them several times since they all signed with teams that compete in the Big Sky Conference.
Writer Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at www.heraldnet.com/doubleteam.
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