BATON ROUGE, La. — The LSU women’s basketball program has received a national letter-of-intent from 6-1 forward Wendlyn Jones of Grosnell, Ark. Jones, a senior at Blytheville High School, will enroll at LSU in the fall of 2001.
Jones’ signing gives the Lady Tigers a total of five players for the fall recruiting class. LSU’s earlier signees included 6-2 center Aiyasha Smith of Tyler (Texas) Junior College, 6-3 center Tillie Willis of Cumberland (Ga.) Christian High School, 5-10 guard Scholanda Dorrell of Edison High School in Miami, Fla., and 6-1 forward Florence Williams, also of Miami’s Edison High.
Jones, who has a 3.5 GPA, averaged 20 points and 12 rebounds per game last season at Blytheville High.
“Wendlyn will probably play power forward for us,” said LSU head coach Sue Gunter. “She’s a strong kid who runs the floor very well. She has an outstanding presence on the floor, she’s not a real flashy player, she just goes out and wins for you. She was rated as one of the top players in Arkansas, and we’re really, really happy to get her.”
Gunter and the Lady Tigers play their 2000-01 home opener at 7 p.m. Saturday versus Sam Houston State in the Maravich Assembly Center. LSU, which is ranked No. 9 in this week’s Associated Press poll, enters Saturday’s contest with a 1-1 mark after defeating New Mexico and losing to Duke last weekend in the Women’s Sports Foundation Classic in Albuquerque, N.M.
Sam Houston State, which opens its season Saturday, posted a 12-15 overall mark in 1999-2000. The Bearkats were 11-7 in Southland Conference play, finishing in fourth place in the league.