UNCG women’s basketball team signs three student-athletes to NLI

GREENSBORO, NC – UNC Greensboro women’s basketball coach Lynne Agee announced the signing of three student-athletes to letters of intent to enroll at the University and play basketball for the Spartans. Sharniece Wadelington, TaShama Banner and Lakiah Hyson will join the program beginning in the 2006 fall semester.

Wadelington comes by way of J.L Mann High School in Greenville, SC and played for head coach Darah Huffman. She becomes the first player from the state of South Carolina to ever play for coach Agee, who embarks on her 26th season at the helm of the Spartan program in 2006-07.

The 5-7 guard was named the Greenville County Basketball Coaches Association Players of the year after averaging 16.7 points, four steals and three assists per game this past season. Wadelington scored 33 points in a 76-63 victory over North Charleston to win the Class 3A state championship in March. She emerged as the Patriots’ leader of a young squad that featured only two seniors among Mann's first seven players; four in the rotation were sophomores.

Wadelington competed in the Carolinas All-Star Basketball Classic, which features the South Carolina women all-stars versus the North Carolina all-stars. Wadelington scored a season-high 42 points in a regular season loss to Greenville, but came back to score 21 points in the Patriots' win in the Upper State final over Greenville.

“Sharniece is a combo guard that is a terrific scorer and a good 3-point shooter,” said Agee. “She has quick hands which makes her a good defender. What we really like about Sharniece is that she brings experience and a winning mentality, along with how well she performed under pressure in leading J.L. Mann to a state title.”

Banner, a 5-8 guard from Bladenboro, NC, played for head coach Teresa Coleman at West Baden High School. She averaged 18.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, 4.5 steals and 3.7 assists this past year and finished her career with a school record 1,490 points.

She was named Tri-Player of the Year in her league and was an All-Southeastern Conference selection as both a junior and senior. In addition, Banner has been nominated to play in the North Carolina East-West All-Star game.

“We are very excited about our in-state recruit,” explained Agee. “TaShama is an explosive, athletic two-guard that has the ability to attack the rim. Her slashing abilities are what we need and we feel as a coaching staff is a missing piece of our puzzle.”

Agee’s coaching staff has once again plucked another player from the greater Washington D.C area. Hyson played for head coach Marvin Vann at Gwynn Park High School in Brandywine, MD. She won two state championships as a freshman and sophomore while playing alongside current UNCG rising juniors Kristen Boone and Kemena Brooks.

Hyson, a 5-8 combo guard, was named honorable mention All-Met by the Washington Post and to the Prince George’s 3A/2A All-League team after averaging 16.8 points per game, 10th best in Prince George’s County, as a senior.

She led the Yellow Jackets to a 22-4 record this past season and scored a game-high 31 points in the 3A state semifinal loss to Baltimore City’s Western club.

Hyson scored in double figures in all but three games as a senior and tossed in a career-high 32 points and had 10 assists in a 70-28 win over Potomac. She scored her 1,000th career point in a 77-46 victory over Lackey.

“Lakiah is a versatile combo guard that brings both an offense and defensive presence to the court,” Agee said. “She is a strong scorer that can shoot the three and also drive to the basket. We also like the fact that she started along side Kristen and Kemena at Gwynn Park as a sophomore, so the familiarity to play with two key members of our team is already in place.”

UNCG expects its top-nine scorers and 11 players back from last season’s squad that posted an 18-12 record and a second place finish in the Southern Conference regular season standings with a 12-6 league slate. The Spartans also earned a berth in the SoCon Tournament Championship game.

- UNCG -