It’s only been a little more than three weeks since Lindsay Whalen was hired to coach the Golden Gophers women’s basketball team and she’s already landed a couple of high-profile recruits.
Stillwater Area High School junior guard Sara Scalia was the first less than a week ago, and on Wednesday Whalen signed a four-star recruit out of Utah, Mercedes Staples.
minnesotaaaaa🎉 pic.twitter.com/4Cq6u5TiTt
— mercedes staples (@mercedesstaples) May 9, 2018
The @GopherWBB family just got bigger! Welcome to the fam @mercedesstaples!! 〽️ pic.twitter.com/Jy6DMCQg5u
— Lindsay Whalen (@Lindsay_13) May 9, 2018
Staples is a pretty big get for the Gophers. The 5-foot-10 point guard is ranked 64th nationally in the Class of 2018, according to ESPN, which describes her as an “athletic lead-guard with a scorer’s mentality.”
Today’s top stories:
– Neighbor saves sleeping family of 4 from burning home
– Adrian Peterson’s 7-mile running routine is extremely difficult
She averaged 22 points and four assists per game last season.
“Mercedes is someone that has a lot of different skills and brings a lot to the team,” Whalen said in a press release. “She can pass it with the best of them, can see the floor, can shoot and can score it. She’s got great size and length so we’re really excited about her joining our Gopher family.”
Whalen is also in the process of starting the new WNBA season as the point guard of the Minnesota Lynx.