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Incoming Women's Basketball recruits flourish in final high school forays
April 3, 2008
ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. - After finishing the 2007-08 campaign with a program best 18 victories as well as multiple new school records, the St. Bonaventure women's basketball team will return 10 letterwinners from last season's squad and add a talented quartet of freshmen who just culminated their high school careers on a high note. Jennie Ashton (Austin, Texas/McCallum), Jessica Jenkins (Marion, Ohio/Marion Harding), Linsey Niles (Lorraine, N.Y./South Jefferson) and Megan Van Tatenhove (Sheboygan Falls/Oostburg) make up head coach Jim Crowley's 2008 recruiting class and will all join their future Brown and White teammates on the court this fall. "Over the past few seasons, my staff has done an outstanding job of identifying student-athletes who can make an impact in our program," said Crowley. "We expect these four to continue in that tradition." Ashton finished her career at McCallum High School with her third straight selection to the Austin Independent School District first team as well as earning a spot on the All-Centex second unit. The 6-foot-3 forward led the Lady Knights to a 22-12 overall mark and a 12-4 league record for a second place finish in the district. After posting career-best numbers during her junior campaign, Ashton created new personal-highs in nearly every statistical category as she stuffed the stat sheet with 15.0 points, 10.2 rebounds, 4.3 steals, 1.4 assists and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting 51.4 percent from the field. Thanks to 479 points in her final season at McCallum, Ashton finished with 1,213 career tallies.
As a senior at Marion Harding High School, Jenkins guided her club to a 23-2 (10-0) record en route to a Greater Buckeye Conference championship as well as Sectional and District VI titles. Following her final foray with the Presidents, she was selected to the Division I All-Ohio first team by the Associated Press after compiling season averages of 19.2 points and 3.0 assists per game. The 5-7 guard will leave Marion Harding as the school's all-time leader in 16 different girl's basketball categories. After registering a single-season best 451 points during her senior campaign, including a record 37-point outburst vs. Lima on December 7, Jenkins catapulted to the top spot on the President's all-time scoring chart with 1,284 career points. Always a long-range threat from behind the arc, the Marion sharpshooter owns every three-point field goal shooting record at the school thanks to connecting on a career 43 percent clip with 187 triple conversions. Jenkins also holds her school's career marks in assists (517), made field goals (458) and made free throws (181) as well as single-season records in assists (143), field goal percentage (61.4) and free throw percentage (85.0). Niles finished her career at South Jefferson High School by navigating the Spartans to a 23-2 (14-1) record and an appearance in the New York State Class B Quarterfinals. Since her freshman season with the Spartans, Niles helped lead her team to a 102-5 overall mark during a four-year span. The 5-foot-11 forward notched season numbers of 17.8 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game en route to New York State Class B and Syracuse Post Standard first team selections. Niles paced the Frontier League in scoring to the tune of 447 tallies during her senior campaign and concluded her prep career with 1,467 points and 741 rebounds.
The 5-foot-11 Van Tatenhove guided Oostburg High School to an unblemished 27-0 mark and a Division 3 state championship in her final season with the Flying Dutchmen. After leading her team to the only undefeated finish in the state regardless of division, Van Tatenhove was named the Associated Press Wisconsin State Player of the Year. Despite playing in 22 minutes per game as her club dominated its competition throughout the year, she still compiled averages of 19.7 points, 8.9 rebounds, 3.8 steals and 2.5 assists per contest while connecting on a blistering 73.3 percent from the floor. Under the guidance of Wisconsin's AP Coach of the Year Tom DePagter, Van Tatenhove culminated her high school career as Oostburg's all-time leading scorer (1,347 points) as well as ranking first in steals (249) and three-point percentage (52.7), while sitting second in rebounds (706) and made free throws (305). The Bonnies are in the midst of back-to-back winning seasons for just the second time in program history at the Division I level with 34 combined wins over the last two years. Crowley guided his club to their highest finish in the Atlantic 10 (7th) since 1996-97 and the program's second ever victory over a nationally ranked opponent with a 63-60 triumph over 2008 NCAA Sweet 16 finalist and #14/13 George Washington. *Photos used in this story were provided by James Miller/The Marion Star (Jessica Jenkins) and Gary Klein/The Sheboygan Press (Megan Van Tatenhove).
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