LONDON, Ont. - Western Mustangs women’s basketball coach Stephan Barrie is pleased to announce three key recruits for the 2010-2011 season. 

Laura Dally (Sarnia, Ont.), a guard with Canada’s Junior Women’s National Team, heads the list. 

Dally is joined by her Ontario U-15 provincial teammate Lacey Knox (Kingston, Ont.)  and B.C. U-15 provincial team player Lauren Seabrook  (North Vancouver, B.C.). Players who commit to Mustangs teams will be eligible to play at Western provided they are academically admissible to The University of Western Ontario and have applied through the normal process with the Ontario Application Centre in Guelph, Ont.

The three recruits will join redshirt transfer Jenny Vaughan (Dundas, Ont.) next season to give Western a very impressive incoming class. Vaughan comes to Western after one season at Denver (NCAA Div. 1).

“Having Laura, Lacey and Lauren join Jenny is a pretty tremendous incoming class,” said Barrie. “When you add them to the returning group we have, the expectation for the 2010-2011 group is to take the program to the next level. That won’t happen by just having talented players. They will have to be the hardest working team in our conference.”

Laura Dally

The commitment of Dally, a player highly sought after by NCAA schools, is a major coup for the Mustangs. Hailing from the perennial powerhouse Sarnia Northern High School where she was coached by John Thrasher, Dally enters Western as a talent with the ability to make a major impact immediately. 

The 6-0 guard comes to the Mustangs with an impressive resume. She averaged just under 10 minutes per game with the JWNT this past summer in Bangkok, Thailand.  The team finished fourth in the world, the highest finish ever for Canada at a world championship in women’s basketball. Dally averaged 4.0 points per game for Canada and scored an impressive 10 points off the bench against the powerhouse U.S. squad. She has also been a member of the Ontario provincial team for three years, winning two gold medals at nationals. At Northern, Dally has been named athlete of the year and basketball MVP three years running, leading her team this past season to a city championship.

“To have Laura choose to stay in the CIS is a major step for our league, let alone our program,” said Barrie. “The quality of basketball continues to improve, and our goal is the get more players like Laura to make the decision to stay.”

“I remember seeing Laura playing in our senior high school tournament in her Grade 9 year and we all thought this kid was awesome,” Barrie said. “What I loved most about Laura was hearing how much she worked with Coach Thrasher on her game; she was always in the gym. We recruited Laura from the get go, but it wasn’t until this past summer when she spent time with Jenny, that I think she started shifting her thinking from the NCAA to Western.”

Dally was roomed with Vaughan during the Junior National team’s training camp this past summer.

“The fact that she will have major competition everyday in Jenny, Jacklyn and some of our other top players will be a significant factor for Laura’s development,” Barrie said. “And as much as Laura has the potential to be a top player in the country, she also has a long way to go. She has to get stronger, and she has parts of her game like all kids her age that need improving. She will get pushed hard here, but she has the right work ethic and attitude to succeed.”

Dally said she is excited about coming to Western and staying in Canada.

“I feel as though CIS basketball is becoming more recognized, and since Western has such a solid program and they are working as hard as they are, I wanted to become a part of that,” said Dally. “I know Steph and the coaching staff will also help me train to reach my goals with the National Program. Western has supported me for a very long time. It is close to home so my family and friends can come watch our games.”

Dally is applying to study social sciences at Western.

“Academically, Western was a great fit program-wise and they have the resources academically I was looking for,” she said. “I am looking forward to playing at the next level, especially with Jenny and Jacklyn who can push me every day. I am also looking forward to meeting new people and going through the whole Western experience. My goals are simply to win the Bronze Baby and to graduate with an honours degree.”

Western will also add Knox, a 5-11 guard, and Seabrook, a 6-1 forward. 

Lacey Knox

Knox played for the U-15 provincial team as well as the Frontenac Falcons and Kingston Impact club team coached by former national team member Andrea Blackwell. Also a member of the student council, she was the MVP of her school team in Grades 10-12 and was selected to the Kingston all-star team in Grades 11 and 12.  Knox, who is applying to the kinesiology program, said she is excited about coming to Western.

“The deciding factor in choosing Western was the basketball program,” she said. “I am really looking forward to playing at the next level and especially with the current and incoming players at Western… I want to improve every day, and help the program win a national championship.  And academically, I want to excel in the classroom in the highly regarded Kinesiology program at Western.”
Barrie describes Knox as a “slashing wing player who has great basketball instincts (who) has the ability to score in a variety of ways and is an excellent passer.”
 
“I’ve had the good fortune of coaching Lacey the past two summers with Canada Drive and I knew early on this was a kid that we wanted at Western,” Barrie said. “She is long, athletic and aggressive, and she has a great passion for the game.” 

“I feel Lacey is going to really develop at our level,” he added. “The fact that she has already played for me will help her adjusting to things here. I think she will be a great teammate in our program. She is the type of player I love to coach.”

Lauren Seabrook

Seabrook played for the British Columbia U-15 and U-16 provincial teams, attending Carson Graham Secondary School coached by Vern Porter and the 3D summer traveling team. An honour-roll student who is applying to study science at Western, Seabrook “is a versatile forward who has a very solid understanding of the game,” Barrie said. 

Seabrook also had a connection to Vaughan as her sister Julie was at NEDA (National Elite Development Academy) with Vaughan and was also a member of the Junior National team this past summer where Vaughan met Lauren in Thailand.

“We got lucky with Lauren,” Barrie said. “She sent me a game film and we saw that she had the tools to be a very good CIS forward. She has a strong basketball IQ and a solid fundamental skill base.”
Barrie said Seabrook’s biggest challenge will be getting stronger to be able to go to war with players older than her in the paint. 

“Her visit went exceptionally well,” Barrie said. “The girls really enjoyed her personality, and I was able to see that she was very coachable.”

Seabrook said she chose Western because of the great academics and outstanding basketball program. 

“I felt like I fit right into the team there and their style of play suits my strengths,” she said. “I loved the city and the campus is beautiful. I am looking forward to playing with so many talented players, improving my game, and contributing to the overall success of the program.”

Barrie, who anticipates making one or two more additions to the roster, said he is pleased with the overall high school recruiting class.

“Most importantly, these kids are a good fit for us. They are the kind of young women our coaches want to work with everyday,” Barrie said. “Our current players, who all wanted to have them as new teammates, were very instrumental in recruiting them.”
Western loses just two players after the 2009-10 season with Anderson and forward Lauren Parkes (London, Ont.) graduating.