Lykendra Johnson of Chicago, Ill., the No. 30 overall prospect in the HoopGurlz National Hot 100, verbaled on Monday to Michigan State.
Johnson, a 6-foot-1 power forward, chose Michigan State over Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan and Purdue.
The Spartans have pieced together a nice signing class with Johnson as their third four-star prospect. Taja Wilson of Pittsburgh, Pa., a 6-2 forward who is ranked No. 65 overall, and Brittney Thomas of Bolingbrook, Ill., a 5-10 guard who is ranked No. 70, previously committed to Michigan, as did Cetera Washington, a 6-1 forward from Kalamazoo, Mich.
Lykendra Johnson (right) at Illinois Class AA
State tournament |
Amy Jaeschke of Wilmette, Ill., who is ranked one spot ahead of Johnson, was the last Hot 100 prospect to commit. She also went Big Ten, verbaling to Northwestern.
Also a volleyball player Trinity High School, Johnson had yet to take an official visit to any schools, but has been to Illinois twice and made unofficial visits to Michigan State and Purdue. Johnson is the niece of Russell Cross, the former Purdue center who was chosen No. 6 overall in the 1983 NBA Draft by Golden State. Cross is a girl's basketball assistant coach at Trinity.
One of the more athletic big forwards in the country, Johnson is excellent around the basket, finishes hard and is a very good rebounder. She averaged 13.6 points and 9.2 rebounds during her junior high-school season.
Johnson's pledge leaves just seven uncommitted Hot 100 prospects. Of those, No. 5 Vicki Baugh, No. 13 Melissa Jones, No. 17 Tyra White and No. 42 Paris Johnson are the only players expected to commit in time to sign during the fall signing period, Nov. 8-15.
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Glenn Nelson is the publisher of HoopGurlz.com and the editor-in-chief of Scout Media (www.Scout.com), an online sports network and magazine-publishing company and subsidiary of Fox Interactive Media. Glenn also founded and coached
the Dragons and Northwest HoopGurlz select girls basketball teams. He previously was a longtime, national-award-winning basketball columnist and writer for The Seattle
Times. His work also has appeared in several national magazines and books. He is co-author of "Rising Stars: The Ten Best Players in the NBA" (Rosen Publishing, 2002). He
can be reached at hoopgurlz@comcast.net.
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