Nov. 19, 2007
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. - Penn State head women's basketball coach Coquese Washington announced today that she has signed three guards to her first recruiting class for the Blue & White. Zhaque Gray (Chicago, Ill.), Emily Phillips (South Bend, Ind.) and Renee Womack (Lansdale, Pa.) all signed National Letters of Intent (NLI) and will start their Lady Lion careers in 2008-09.
"Overall, I am really excited about this recruiting class, it is our first recruiting class, and we wanted to set a tone for the type of player that we want to bring to Penn State," Washington said. "All three of the players are fast. They are going to help us get our transition game going and they can also do a lot on the defensive end of the floor. I am really excited about what they bring to the table and really look forward to getting all three of them here next year to see the kind of impact that they will have on the program."
Gray, the 37th-ranked player by Blue Star Basketball, joins the Lady Lions out of Prep John Hope High School in Chicago where she led the Eagles to back-to-back City Championship runner-up efforts in 2005-06 and 2004-05. The 5-8 guard is a two-time All-State choice and a two-time Chicago Sun-Times All-Area team selection. Last season, Gray averaged 21.0 points and 5.7 rebounds per game and drained 55 three-pointers in leading the Eagles to the Public League semifinals. Gray selected Penn State over Rutgers, Illinois and DePaul.
"Zhaque Gray is a scorer," Washington said. "She can shoot the three and she excels in transition. She is very versatile and can play some point and two, but one thing is for sure, she knows how to put the ball in the basket. I am looking forward to watching her development when she gets here."
Phillips, a 5-4 point guard from Washington High School, was a second-team All-Conference selection last season and was a member of the North Six Junior All-Stars. She averaged nine points, five assists and two rebounds per game as she led the Panthers to a 28-1 record and the Indiana State Championship. In the state title game, Phillips had 16 points, three assists and three steals in the win over Columbus East.
"Emily Phillips has a wonderful personality," Washington said. "She gets after it on the defensive end and has great court vision. She is an extremely good passer and she makes some passes that are just phenomenal. I think our players are really going to enjoy playing with her because she is going to get them the ball and get them easy baskets."
Womack, a 5-10 guard and the 82nd ranked player by Hoopgurlz.com, led Methacton High School to their first-ever playoff win in school history last season. She led the Suburban One League in scoring last season with a 16.4 average and also pulled down 9.0 rebounds per game en route to being selected as The Mercury's All-Area Girls Basketball Player of the Year and earning All-Suburban One League first team accolades. Womack enters her senior season needing 101 points to become Methacton's all-time leading scorer. During her AAU career, Womack earned MVP honors as the Showtime National Championships (16 & under division) with the Lady Rebels last summer and made three final four appearances at the AAU National Championships with Fencor.
"Renee Womack is a tremendous athlete," Washington said. "She jumps well, she runs the floor well and she had a good mid-range game and is working on extending it out to the three-point line. She is going be a really good defender for us."
This season, Penn State introduces a new seven-game Lady Lion Flex Plan package where fans will receive a ticket to the Duke (Sun., Dec. 2) and Georgetown (Sun., Dec. 9) games and the second annual THINK PINK Day versus Iowa (Sun., Feb. 10), as well as four flex vouchers to redeem in any ticket combination for Big Ten games. Fans can purchase single-game tickets or flex plan packages by visiting the Bryce Jordan Center box office, calling 814-865-5555 or 800-863-3336 or by clicking on the ticket link on www.GoPSUsports.com.