Women's recruits having good offseason

[Dave Malaska]

   As the University of Cincinnati women1s basketball team begins
preparations for next season, the Bearcats1 recruits have been wrapping up
some unfinished business.
   UC1s four incoming players, Anne Stephens, Micah Harvey, Miranda Smith
and Meghan Hillman have had busy offseasons already, garnering honors and
participating in all-star games.
   Stephens, a 6-4 senior center from Parkersburg South High School in
Mineral Wells, W. Va., played in the Scott Brown Memorial Classic in
Morgantown, W.Va. on April 13, dominating inside as her team won, 93-64. The
game, which pits players from the state1s AAA programs < it1s largest
schools < against players from smaller schools and both classes A and AA.
   Stephens provided the board work, taking advantage of several second and
third chances off the glass to post 13 points to go with 10 rebounds. She
wasn1t the team1s leading scorer < that honor went to North Carolina signee
Jessica Sell, who scored 27 points to lead all scorers in the game. But it
was Stephen1s work in the lane that was the difference in the game,
according to opposing coach Rick Cook.
   "It was offensive boards," Cook told WVSPN, an online sports site. 3They
were getting second and third shots most of the time on their height
advantage alone."
   Stephens has been ranked the 61st best center coming out of the preps
this year.
   Harvey, a 5-7 senior guard at Eastern Brown High School in Sardinia,
Ohio, put the final touches on her high school career by being named the
Ohio Division III co-player of the year. She was a unanimous choice for the
state Division III first team after averaging 24 points per game as a
senior, an improvement of more than seven points per game over her junior
season.
   Smith was also helping her state all-star team to a big win.
   The top high school senior basketball players from South Hampton Roads
area in Virginia encompassing Smith1s hometown of Chesapeake, Portsmouth,
Va. and Norfolk, Va., and the Virginia Peninsula got together on April 28
for the seventh annual Senior Basketball Classic.
   Smith  had 19 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Southside girls to an
easy 64-43 victory over their counterparts from the Peninsula, earning game
Most Valuable Player honors.
   3For many of us, it's the last time we'll probably get to play
together,'' Smith, a 6-1 forward with a nice shooting touch, told The
Virginian-Pilot newspaper. 3So we just wanted to come out here and have fun,
that's what we did.''
   For Hillman, there was a trip to Greater Cincinnati to play in the 11th
annual Ohio-Kentucky All-Star game played on April 6 at Thomas More College
in Crestview Hills, Ky. Hillman, a 6-1 senior forward from West Carter High
in Olive Hill, Ky., saw it as a new start after a disappointing loss in the
opening round of the Kentucky high school Sweet 16 in March.
   She contributed six points and a team-high nine rebounds in limited
playing time to help Kentucky to a 89-68 win over their Buckeye
counterparts. It was the seventh-straight win over Ohio for the Kentucky
squad.
   After the game, Hillman was focused on her next trip to Cincinnati.
   3I've never looked forward to anything so much in my life," Hillman told
the Ashland, Ky., Daily Independent. 3A lot of people say things like she's
going to Cincinnati, but she hardly averages 10 points a game. But I know
they wanted me and I'm ready to go up there and improve as much as I can."


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