New Emporia State women’s basketball coach MJ Baker has finalized her first recruiting class in Emporia. The class includes five transfers and one freshman. The freshman is:
Julia Clavero (Barcelona, Spain) – forward, Basketball Almeda: Played in Spain’s LF2 League and scored 10 ppg for Almeda and helping lead her squad to the Championship of Catalonia and an 11th place national finish.
Baker has also retained the commitment of previous signee Vanessa Coleman. She was rated as the 13th best small forward in Oklahoma and helped lead Tulsa Union to the Oklahoma Class 6A State Tournament this spring. She had previously committed to the program after being offered by former coach Brian Ostermann. ESU’s transfer signings include:
Katiya Casey (Crestview, Fla.) – guard, Pensacola State College: Averaged 10 ppg, 2 rpg, and 2 spg for the Pirates as a sophomore and was First Team All-Conference. Scored 14 ppg, grabbed four rebounds, dished five assists, and had four steals per game as a senior at Crestview High School.
Micah Hanna (Ocoee, Fla.) – guard, Santa Fe College: Scored 11 points per game with seven rebounds and just over two steals per game on the way to Second Team All-Conference for the Saints. Was a First Team All-Metro player at Ocoee High School.
Maria Luisa Montes (Seville, Spain) – guard, Central Arizona College: Averaged nearly 10 points and just over five rebounds per game for the Vaqueras last year. Played for IES Ciudad Jardin during her prep years in Spain.
Allison Reese (Houston, Texas) – guard, Independence CC: Scored nearly 14 points per game while grabbing 4.6 rpg and 2.6 spg for the Pirates as a sophomore. Played her freshman year at Paris Junior College averaging nearly 11 points per game.
Kaitlyn Sanders (Miami, Fla.) – guard, Rollins: Played for Baker previously at Eastern Florida State College. Scored nearly 12 ppg last year at Rollins while shooting 47% from the field and leading the Sunshine State Conference in assist-to-turnover ratio. Scored 20 ppg as a senior at Gulliver Prep.
Baker will begin her first season as ESU’s head women’s basketball coach this fall with the schedule yet to be released. She comes to Emporia following an impressive stretch at Eastern Florida State College where she went 183-58 winning three conference titles and making three trips to the NJCAA Tournament.
