The Rutgers women's basketball team can anticipate the addition of three top recruits for the 2005-06 season, as the program announced yesterday that Sammeika Thrash, Kia Vaughn, and Heather Zurich have signed national letters of intent to join the team.
The headliner of the signings is Vaughn, currently ranked as the No. 4 prospect in the nation on The Blue Star Top-100 list. Already having played alongside current Scarlet Knights Matee Ajavon and Essence Carson in the 2004 USA Basketball Junior National Team Trials, the 6-foot-4-inch Vaughn averaged 17 points, 20 rebounds, and 4.5 blocks per game at center as a junior for St. Michael's Academy in New York City. Rated the second-best post player and sixth-best overall player by the All Star Girls Report, the highly-coveted Vaughn already has future coach C. Vivian Stringer chomping at the bit.
"What can you say about Kia," Stringer said. "The whole nation knows about her."
Stringer, who is now in her 10th season with the Knights, praised Vaughn for her excellent shot, her physical style of play, and ability to control the floor.
Vaughn will be joined on the Banks by Heather Zurich, a 6-foot-1-inch guard out of Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale. Zurich has averaged 18 points-per-game en route to compiling 1,198 total points so far in high school, good enough for third all-time with still a full season of work ahead of her. Zurich was a participant in the 2004 adidas All-America camp and was named to The Associated Press All-State third team as a junior. Her high school coach, Jeff Jasper, coached current Knight Cappie Pondexter in the 2001 WBCA All-America game.
"Heather is a great addition to our team," Stringer said. "She's a pro-sized guard. Heather can run the floor, she can create her own shot, and she can stroke the ball like anyone in the country."
The third addition comes in the person of Sammeika Thrash. As a junior at Ramsay High School in Birmingham, Ala., the 6-foot-1-inch forward averaged 13 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per game. The All Star Girls Report rates her the No. 9 forward and a top-40 overall player. Also an honorable-mention All-American by Street & Smith last season, the versatile Thrash will bring an extraordinary work ethic and competitive edge to the team.
"Sammeika told us that she wants to win," Stringer said. "She doesn't know me, just we."
Her legitimate post game, combined with the ability to play the perimeter, will add to a Rutgers squad that already largely emphasizes versatility.
"Sammeika has a legitimate inside and outside game," Stringer said. "She is so versatile. And she's a winner."
Stringer stressed the importance that all three recruits are great competitors who come from winning atmospheres in, both, high school and outside club teams. Combine that with the current freshman class and suddenly there is an extremely talented and legitimate core of girls around which Stringer can build her winning team for many years to come.
"Imagine this class with the current freshmen," she said. "Each position is legitimate. With them you're really going to have a very strong core class for the future."
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