DePaul University Athletics
Women's Basketball Announces Recruiting Class
11/17/2003 12:00:00 AM | WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
CHICAGO – DePaul women’s basketball coach Doug Bruno announced that Erin Carney, Allie Quigley and Caprice Smith have signed a national letter of intent to play at DePaul beginning next season. The three standout player’s make up one of DePaul’s top recruiting classes in the program’s 30 years. Overall, the trio of Carney, Quigley and Smith make up the nation’s 10th-ranked recruiting class by the Women’s Basketball News Service and No. 15 by the Blue Star Index.
Carney, a 6-1 forward, leads the St. Francis Gladiators into the state tournament this week. Michigan and Montana are the nation's only states that play girls high school basketball in the fall. Through 19 games this season, Carney averaged 19.8 points and 17.3 rebounds per game in addition to 4.3 steals per contest. This season, she has put together game highs of 29 points and 25 rebounds in a game. Carney played her first three seasons at Flint Power Catholic High School where she averaged 10.8 points and 7.7 boards per game. She is just 50 rebounds short of 1,000 in her high school career. With Powers, she won the Class B state championship as a sophomore. Her sister, Rachel, is a sophomore guard at the University of Michigan.
"Erin Carney is a consummate warrior and team leader," said Bruno. "She's one of those players that will do anything for her team to win. She always makes her teammates better and is just a ferocious rebounder. She also has a great nose for the basketball and she can score."
Quigley, a three-sport standout, was an honorable mention All-American by Street and Smith in 2003 and is ranked No. 78 on Blue Star's top 100 seniors. In addition to her honorable mention All-American honors, she also earned All-State mention by the Associated Press, Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune last season after averaging 28 points per game. This summer she was invited to play at the elite Nike Camp in Indianapolis.
"Allie Quigley is an excellent athlete and excellent basketball player," said Bruno. "Allie has great instincts for the game and having excelled in three sports in high school creates a huge upside as a collegiate basketball player as she will begin to focus on just basketball."
Smith, a 6-2 forward, led Trinity to the first Elite Eight appearance in school history last season while averaging 21.5 points and 10.4 rebounds per game. She also shot .450 (54-120) from three-point range. Following her junior season, she received first team All-State honors from the Chicago Sun-Times, Champaign News-Gazette, Chicago Tribune and the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association. Ranked No. 29 in the Blue Star Index Top 100 seniors and No. 50 by the All Start Girls Report, Smith attended the Nike All-America Camp this past summer and the adidas Top Ten Camp where she was an underclassmen All-Star in 2002. She was also an AAU All-American this summer and played in the USA Youth Development Festival. Street and Smith magazine rates her as an All-America honorable mention.
"Caprice Smith is one of the top players in the nation," said Bruno. "She is a versatile basketball player that can hurt teams from both the post position and the three-point line. She is another top high school player with a great college upside."
The Blue Demons open the 2003-04 regular season with the Moran Realty Classic, Nov. 21-22. Ball State and Northwestern State open play on Friday at 6 p.m. followed by DePaul and UW-Milwaukee. The two winners will meet on Saturday at 8 p.m. after the 6 p.m. consolation game.
