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Covington headlines Signing Day

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by Jonah Braun

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Wisconsin head coach Lisa Stone announced at a press conference Wednesday the signing of four recruits who will be joining the women's basketball team for the 2008-09 season.

"Today is a great day for Wisconsin women's basketball," Stone said. "We are thrilled and excited to announce four tremendously talented young women who will join our program."

The new recruiting class, Stone's fifth as head coach, includes Illinois forwards Anya Covington, Ashley Thomas and Jamie Russell as well as Jade Davis, the program’s first-ever recruit from the state of Colorado.

Standing 6-foot-2, Covington averaged nearly 15.9 points and 9.6 rebounds per game for Edwardsville High School in Illinois, and is ranked as the No. 5 high school forward in the nation.

"She's just a tremendously brilliant young woman in the classroom, and she has that intelligence on the court," Stone said. "When she's on the court she demands respect due to that presence. She can run, she can catch, she can finish inside and score, and as you look at her, I look in terms of our needs of continuing to build our post game, and I think she'll step right in."

Covington looks to make an immediate impact on the team, as star seniors Jolene Anderson and Janese Banks will be leaving a big gap to fill.

Another 6-foot-2 forward, Ashley Thomas, started on the varsity team for all four of her years at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Ill. She was also ranked as a top-50 player for all her years in high school.

"Ashley Thomas is a long, lean, athletic player that can play both inside and outside," Stone said. "She can shoot, get to the basket and she's very tough-minded."

In high school, Thomas averaged 12 points and 6 rebounds per game, and was picked to the all-state team after her junior year.

Jamie Russell, the third recruit from Illinois, was chosen as her team MVP at Rock Hill High School in Rock Falls, Ill., for all three years she played. A guard, Russell played on an AAU team this past summer with Thomas, and Stone sees this as a great addition to the already talented athlete.

"I watched them throughout the entire summer, and then some," Stone said. "I saw the two of them as tremendous teammates, and both [Russell and Thomas] are great defenders."

Russell had the highest scoring average of any of the recruits, recording 21.5 points, along with 6.2 rebounds per game, at the guard position.

Davis, the only recruit from the class not from Illinois, is a talented, quick guard. Standing 5-foot-9, Davis led Highlands Ranch (Colo.) High School to two consecutive state championships in 2006 and 2007.

"She's just a tremendously athletic player," Stone said. "She can play the off-guard position for us, and will. She's a strong guard — she can step out and shoot the 3, get to the basket — a very good defender — and she gives us the depth that we need on the perimeter."

With Anderson and Banks leaving next season, Stone and the Badgers are looking to fill a huge gap. With the new freshmen next year, Stone said the hole left by the graduating seniors won't be as bad.

"We're not going to replace Jolene and Janese, you just can't," Stone said. "But, we certainly have brought in some players that fit very well with our team. … They're all very gifted, and they're coming in on a pretty young team. We're counting on all of these freshmen to come in to play for us, and that's why we recruited them, to come in and play."

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