BATON ROUGE — Sylvia Fowles and Erica White each signed a National Letter of Intent to play Basketball for the LSU Lady Tigers on the first day of the early signing period, LSU head coach Sue Gunter announced on Wednesday.
Fowles, a 6-5 post player from Gulliver Prep in Miami, Fla., averaged 21.1 points and 15.6 rebounds per game last season for Edison High School under coach Denise Novak on her way to earning USA Today’s top junior in the nation and Parade Magazine All-America honors. She is listed as the No. 2 prospect in the nation by Roundball Journal Scouting Service and led Edison to back-to-back state titles and a combined 59-11 record in two seasons.
“Sylvia reminds people around LSU of Shaquille O’Neal when he was in college the way she has the potential to dominate the game today,” LSU associate coach Pokey Chatman said. “She has a rare combination of athletic ability and a tremendous passion to improve her game. The best thing about her is despite how good she is right now, she also has the best upside of any player in the country.”
White, a 5-3 guard from Ribault High School in Jacksonville, Fla., averaged 16.0 points, 6.0 assists and 5.0 steals per game last season for coach Alfred Austin and she led her team to three straight state championship, including being named MVP of last year’s title game. She is a consensus top 20 prospect, ranked 10th by All Star Girls Report and is an Adidas and Street and Smith’s All-America.
“I am not sure if Erica knows just how good she is,” Chatman said. “Erica is the total package. She has the ability to put up big numbers, but her stat line never tells the whole story. She controls the game on both ends of the floor because she understands what she needs to do from game to game.”
When Fowles and White arrive at LSU in the fall, it will not be the first time the two will be teammates. They helped make the Miami Suns into a championship AAU program for coach Paul Torres over the past two years. The duo were also two of 48 of the nation’s top high school prospects invited to take part in the USA Basketball Youth Developmental Festival this past summer. They played together on the South team in Colorado Springs, Colo.