Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Women's Basketball signs two more for 2011
04/13/2011 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
April 13, 2011
By Bill Ford
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Southern Illinois women's basketball coach Missy Tiber announced today two more players have signed National Letters of Intent to play for the Salukis in 2011.
Cartaesha Macklin of Lafayette High School in Mayo, Fla., and Dyana Pierre of Lincoln Park Academy in Fort Pierce, Fla., will join SIU's four early signees to bring Southern's 2011 recruiting class to six student-athletes.
"We feel very fortunate to have signed both of these heavily recruited young women," Tiber said. " We were able to establish trust with them early in the recruiting process and ultimately that bond helped in their decision to become Salukis. I look forward to coaching them both, and watching them grow on and off the court. They will both be fantastic Salukis."
Macklin is a 5-foot-7 guard fresh of a senior season in which she averaged 29.2 points, 12.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game, leading the Hornets to the Florida Class 2A state championship semifinals. She broke her school's single-season scoring record with 849 points in 2010-11, bringing her career scoring total to 2,556 points.
Macklin's efforts earned her the titles of Florida Dairy Farmers' Class 2A Player of the Year and Gainesville Sun Girls Basketball Player of the Year. She was named First-Team All-State all four years of high school, having led the Hornets to the state tournament three out of four years.
"Cartaesha is a scoring guard with speed that will be very valuable to us. Her ability to push tempo, get by defenders and score the basketball are all perfect traits for our up-tempo style of play," Tiber said. "Cartaesha will give us another offensive weapon at the guard position"
A 6-foot-2 post player, Pierre also averaged a double-double her senior season at 17.8 points and 12.8 rebounds per game, helping the Greyhounds to the Florida Class 4A regional semifinal game. She was named all-area by both the Scripps Treasure Coast and Palm Beach Post newspapers.
"Dyana is an aggressive post player with great athleticism. Her ability to not only score the basketball, but rebound makes her quite a commodity," Tiber said. "Her ability to finish right and left handed on the block make her very hard to guard and will give us another element in the paint."
ESPN HoopGurlz ranked Pierre a three-star recruit while Macklin was given a two-star rating. The Florida duo joins the Salukis' early signing class of Jaleesa Armstrong, Falon Edwards, Ariel Haynes and Alexus Patterson that HoopGurlz ranked 36th in the nation.
