Indiana University Athletics
INDIANA SIGNS FIVE TO NATIONAL LETTERS OF INTENT
11/16/1998 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
INDIANA SIGNS FIVE TO NATIONAL LETTERS OF INTENT
Indiana's Women's Basketball Coach Jim Izard has announced the signing of five student-athletes to national letters of intent to play basketball at Indiana University next season. The signees include two players from the Hoosier state, two from Ohio and one from Yugoslavia.
Joining the Hoosiers from Evansville Memorial is 5-11 Jill Hartman. Hartman, a versatile senior Miss Basketball candidate, averaged 23.7 points and 8.2 rebounds as a junior while leading her team to a 21-4 record and its first semi-state appearance in school history. The forward earned second team All-State honors and was named to the All-Conference and All-City Teams. Named the 1998 Evansville Courier Player of the Year, Hartman closed out her junior campaign as the state's 11th leading scorer. This past summer Hartman was named an AAU All-American while playing for Indiana's finest Black AAU squad which won the AAU Indiana state Championship and placed ninth at the AAU National Tournament.
Also hailing from Indiana is Rainey Alting, a 5-5 guard out of Delphi High School in Lafayette, Ind. Currently, Delphi is a sophomore at Vincennes University and is averaging 18.0 points, 10 assists and six steals per game. Last weekend she was named Most Valuable Player of the Delta Tip-Off Classic at University Center, Mich. She will be joined at Indiana by Vincennes teammate and current Hoosier signee Jelena Lazic.
Lazic comes to IU after having played basketball for Vincennes University for two seasons. A native of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, the 6-6 center is currently averaging 19.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.0 blocked shots per game for the Trailblazors.
Two Ohio players will also become Hoosiers next fall. Allison Skapin is a 6-0 forward from Beavercreek (Ohio) while Erika Christenson is a 6-4 center for Fairborn (Ohio).
A second-team all-Western Ohio League selection, Skapin averaged 11.3 points, 7.4 rebounds and shot 53 percent from the field as a junior. Beavercreek finished 14-0 in the conference and 23-2 overall, losing in the regional in Division I, Ohio's highest classification. Skapin played this past summer for the Dayton Lady Hoop Stars AAU team which won the Ohio state title for the second straight year and finished second at the 16-and-under national tournament in Indianapolis. She averaged 12.8 points and shot 73 percent from the field in the national tournament, earning AAU All-America honors.
Christenson averaged 19.4 points, 10.1 rebounds and 3.5 blocked shots per game as a junior. She was a first-team Dayton Daily News All-Area player and made the Associated Press Division I All-Southwestern District team. Christenson teamed up with fellow signee Skapin on the Dayton Lady Hoop Stars this past summer. The team finished second in the AAU national tournament. She also played for the 13-member Ohio Junior Olympic team which won the national championship in Hampton, Va., this past July.
"We are really excited about the size we have added inside with
this class," said Coach Jim Izard. "We have also added a quality
point guard and a three-spot player. With these additions, next year will
feature one of our largest front lines ever and we are really excited about
the group of individuals we have coming in."
