April 30, 2003
Bowling Green, Ky. - Western Kentucky University women's basketball coach Mary Taylor Cowles announced today that Carla Bartee and Tifany Zaragoza, have signed National Letters of Intent to play basketball for the Lady Toppers starting next fall. The addition of these two players gives Western seven in its '03-04 recruiting class.
"From top to bottom, this is the best group I've been associated with in a recruiting class," said Cowles. "All seven have played a lot of basketball in their lives already, both in high school and summer ball. They have all played at a very high level and are used to winning. More importantly, they are all great young ladies that will represent our program well on the court, in the classroom and in the community."
Bartee started all four seasons for coach Gina Skelton at Wayne County High School in Waynesboro, Miss. The 6-0 forward averaged 24.4 points, 12.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game during her senior season, earning Courier-Ledger Dandy Dozen honors for the third straight year. She led Wayne Country to a 26-7 record last season, and a 5A state runner-up finish. She was also an honorable mention all-south pick by the Orlando Sentinel and earned all-state honors. A year earlier she averaged 16.3 points and 11.7 rebounds per game during her junior campaign, helping the Lady War Eagles to a 33-2 record and the Class 5A quarterfinals. Her efforts that year earned her Street & Smith honorable mention All-America, as well as a second-team all-state selection.
"We are very excited about the addition of Carla to our program," said Cowles. "She brings a tremendous amount of athletic ability, skill and strength to our team. With the type of high school program Carla comes from, we feel she will be able to step in immediately and help us out both in the post and on the wing."
Zaragoza will make her way to the Hill from Chandler High School in Chandler, Ariz. after leading coach Zon Thompson's squad to a 20-11 record as a senior. She led Chandler in almost all statistical categories, averaging 17 points, nine assists, five rebounds and five steals per game. Those efforts earned Zaragoza a first-team all-region selection this past season.
"Tifany will fill in the biggest missing factor from last season's team. She is a true point guard in every sense of the word," added Cowles. "Her pure athleticism will be a tremendous asset to our program. She is an unbelievable passer and ball handler, and is just a very fundamentally sound player."
Bartee becomes the third post player to sign with the Lady Toppers for the 2003-04 campaign. Natalia Benton, a 6-2 forward from Brooklyn, N.Y. and Cacie Pope, a 6-1 native of Lakewood, Calif., joined 5-11 Lilburn, Ga. wing player Amber Holt as signees during the early period. The Lady Toppers then inked two guard - Charlotte Marshall of Shelbyville, Ky. and Shardae Butler from East St. Louis, Ill. - last week to start the spring signing period, and added Zaragoza to give them four backcourt players in this year's class.
These seven newcomers will join six returning letterwinners from the 2002-03 Lady Topper squad that went 22-9, winning both the Sun Belt Conference East Division title and Sun Belt Tournament crown. WKU then made the 15th NCAA Tournament appearance in the program's history, facing off with Rutgers in the first round in Athens, Ga.
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