Women's Basketball Inks Four Signees
Nov 13, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 13, 2002
NEW ORLEANS, La. - - The Tulane women's basketball team has signed four players on the first day of the NCAA early signing period, Green Wave head coach Lisa Stockton announced Wednesday.
Destiny Drew from Houston, Texas, Jami Montignino and Courtney Simmons, both from Baton Rouge, La., and Cashmir White from Luling, La., have all signed a National Letter-of-Intent (NLI) to enroll at Tulane next fall.
"We are very excited about this recruiting class," Tulane head coach Lisa Stockton said. "We've been able to address a lot of our needs in terms of outside shooting, speed and size. They all come from successful high school and AAU programs and are all strong academically. They are a great fit for the Tulane women's basketball program."
 | "We are very excited about this recruiting class. We've been able to address a lot of our needs in terms of outside shooting, speed and size. They all come from successful high school and AAU programs and are all strong academically. They are a great fit for the Tulane women's basketball program." head coach Lisa Stockton |
Drew, a 6-1 forward, currently attends Crosby High School just outside of Houston, Texas. Named to the Houston Chronicle's preseason first-team, Drew was also selected as the No. 3 player in the state by Texas Hoops. She was selected to the adidas Top Ten All-American camp and is a Street & Smith's honorable mention All-American. Drew was a first-team all-district selection in both basketball and volleyball and was chosen as the district's basketball Offensive Player of the Year. She is also a preseason candidate for Houston Player of the Year honors.
"Destiny is a strong, athletic post player who should add a lot to our program," Stockton said. "She has a tremendous amount of potential. The strength of her game is defense and rebounding, much like Gwen Slaughter is for us now."
Montignino, a 5-8 guard, currently attends Christian Life Academy, the same school that produced former Green Wave standout Sarah Goree. She was a two-time first-team all-district choice and was the district Most Valuable Player in 2002 despite missing the second half of the season with a knee injury. She also earned first-team all-state honors and helped lead Christian Life to a pair of Sweet 16 appearances.
"Jami is a tremendous outside shooter," Stockton said. "She is an underrated guard who is a very fundamental player. She is extremely athletic and has a great ability to put points on the board."
Simmons, a 5-10 point guard, was named the Louisiana Class A Most Valuable Player last season while playing at Baton Rouge's Southern Lab high school. She helped lead Southern Lab to the state title last season and was named the MVP of the state championship game. Selected as one of the Top 20 guards in the class of 2003 by the All-Star Girls Report, Simmons was named first-team All-State and to the Baton Rouge Advocate All-Metro team.
"Courtney is one of the best guards, if not the best, in the state of Louisiana this year," Stockton said. "She has great quickness and speed and has the ability to play both ends of the floor. She is a true point guard who can score and play defense very well."
White, a 6-2 post player, currently attends Hahnville High School in Hahnville, La. She was a two-time all-district selection and was named to the All-River Parishes team in 2002. She was also named to a pair of all-tournament teams. She helped lead her AAU club team to three Top 3 finishes in Louisiana. A versatile student-athlete, White also earned all-state honors in choir and won a Superior Award from the National Music Club in 2001 for piano solo.
"Cashmir is another strong, athletic post player who can put points on the board," Stockton said. "She is a very versatile post who can score with her back to the basket or facing up. She is a great fit for us and should improve very quickly in our system."
Tulane will play host to cross-town rival Xavier next Sunday, Nov. 17, in its final exhibition of the preseason. The Green Wave open the regular season on the road against James Madison on Friday, Nov. 22.
