Lady Tigers add seven recruits

By Ron Bush

Jasmain Carey from Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School and TaQuisha O'Neal from Southeast Whitfield are among seven women's basketball recruits Chattanooga State coach Jay Price reported Friday.

The others include April Woodard, a former star point guard from Harlem (Ga.) High School near Augusta, and 5-10 forward Hiydaayah Williams and 5-6 point guard Olivia James from Atlanta's Stephenson High, plus 6-foot power forward Miesha Turpin from Carver High in Columbus and 6-2 post Joycelyn Ford from Hunters Lane High in Nashville, transferring after one year from Cumberland University.

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Carey, a 6-foot post who was the Times Free Press North Georgia player of the year, signed early with Georgia College and State University but changed her mind after a coaching change at the Milledgeville school, Price said.

"We had to fight off several Division II schools for her. A lot of Division I schools want her after one year of junior college," he said. "She's probably our most prized recruit from this area since I've been coaching the women's team here. She's big, strong and played in a state championship game, and she is a really good student."

"TaQuisha is a really athletic shooting guard," he said of the 5-6 O'Neal. "She can shoot the ball and has a lot of high energy and is a good defender. And she's a good student from this region -- we want to keep those close to home. A lot of schools in our league had offered her."

Turpin signed with Price's Lady Tigers last year but didn't pass her graduation test until December, "so we elected not to bring her till this year," he said. "She's a really athletic Christian Dior Replica girl with high energy and can play the 5, 4 or 3."

Ford, he said, left NAIA member Cumberland because she wanted to play at the NCAA Division I level and felt a year of junior college ball was the best path to it.

"She's a good rebounder and runs well for her size," Price said. "We're really, really lucky to get her."

Woodard had to keep retaking her graduation test since ending her Harlem eligibility in 2006, "and she's clearly the most talented kid in our freshman class," the coach noted. "She's the most individually talented kid we've ever signed. She plays like a guy."

Then there are the Stephenson duo, who won a Class AAAAA championship as juniors. Former Stephenson coach Lawanza Crutcher, a Chattanooga native, helped Price on a volunteer basis last year and helped get them to the Lady Tigers.

"Hiydaayah had been recruited by a lot of smaller Division I schools," Price said. "She tore her ACL after her junior year but came back. She's very, very athletic and rebounds well. She's going to get mid-major looks. Olivia is another really good student and she's very strong and athletic and a true point guard. She doesn't look to score so much but is a good defender, handles the ball well and is a good leader. She's very mature."

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