Photo by: Will Becque
Saluki women’s basketball signs junior transfer Gabby Walker
04/26/2018 | 11:15:00 | Women's Basketball
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois women's basketball head coach Cindy Stein has announced the signing of junior transfer Gabby Walker (6-0, F, St. Charles, Mo., Lindenwood-St. Charles).
Walker arrives at Southern Illinois from NCAA Division II affiliate Lindenwood-St. Charles. A two-year letterwinner for the Lions, Walker played in 58 games, including 16 starts, during her two seasons and averaged 11.9 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.
She scored in double figures in 39 of her 58 career games at Lindenwood-St. Charles, including seven games with 20-plus points. As a sophomore, Walker finished third in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) in both field goal percentage (54.4%) and offensive rebounds per game (3.0).
Southern recruited Walker out of high school but the St. Charles, Mo. native decided to stay home and attend Lindenwood-St. Charles to play for head coach Tony Francis. Francis resigned as the Lions' head coach on April 13 after eight seasons at the helm.
"Gabby is a young lady that we recruited heavily out of high school," sixth-year head coach Cindy Stein said. "She is an obvious Division I talent who ended up going to Lindenwood because of her previous relationship with their head coach, who is no longer there, which allowed us to get a second chance at recruiting her. The MIAA is one of the strongest DII conferences in the country."
This past season, Walker helped the Lions win their first-ever MIAA Tournament title and was named the tournament's MVP after she averaged 15.8 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.3 steals during the four-game tournament, including a game-high 17 points in the championship game to lead the ninth-seeded Lions to a 58-51 win over the third-seeded Fort Hays State Tigers. She also scored 20 points to go along with nine rebounds and five steals in Lindenwood's MIAA quarterfinal win over the eventual NCAA DII National Champions, the Central Missouri Jennies.
"Gabby plays like Charles Barkley," Stein said. "She is a great shooter, a tenacious rebounder and is very physical."
The biochemistry major will have the benefit of knowing at least one of her teammates when she joins the Salukis this summer. She was a teammate of soon-to-be sophomore Rachel Pudlowski on the St. Louis Hype, a summer select team. The tandem helped the Hype amass a 31-6 record and win three of the seven tournaments they played in during the summer of 2015.
Walker played her high school ball at St. Charles, where she earned All-State honors as a senior and was a two-time recipient of the GAC North Female Athlete of the Year award. A four-sport standout at St. Charles, Walker finished her decorated prep career with the third-most points in school history.
The 6-foot forward joins a Saluki women's basketball recruiting class that includes a pair of highly-touted guards from state championship winning programs in Payton McAllister (5-10, G, Columbia ,Mo., Rock Bridge) and Caitlin Link (5-10, G, Madison, Wis., Edgewood).
Walker arrives at Southern Illinois from NCAA Division II affiliate Lindenwood-St. Charles. A two-year letterwinner for the Lions, Walker played in 58 games, including 16 starts, during her two seasons and averaged 11.9 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.
She scored in double figures in 39 of her 58 career games at Lindenwood-St. Charles, including seven games with 20-plus points. As a sophomore, Walker finished third in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) in both field goal percentage (54.4%) and offensive rebounds per game (3.0).
Southern recruited Walker out of high school but the St. Charles, Mo. native decided to stay home and attend Lindenwood-St. Charles to play for head coach Tony Francis. Francis resigned as the Lions' head coach on April 13 after eight seasons at the helm.
"Gabby is a young lady that we recruited heavily out of high school," sixth-year head coach Cindy Stein said. "She is an obvious Division I talent who ended up going to Lindenwood because of her previous relationship with their head coach, who is no longer there, which allowed us to get a second chance at recruiting her. The MIAA is one of the strongest DII conferences in the country."
This past season, Walker helped the Lions win their first-ever MIAA Tournament title and was named the tournament's MVP after she averaged 15.8 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.3 steals during the four-game tournament, including a game-high 17 points in the championship game to lead the ninth-seeded Lions to a 58-51 win over the third-seeded Fort Hays State Tigers. She also scored 20 points to go along with nine rebounds and five steals in Lindenwood's MIAA quarterfinal win over the eventual NCAA DII National Champions, the Central Missouri Jennies.
"Gabby plays like Charles Barkley," Stein said. "She is a great shooter, a tenacious rebounder and is very physical."
The biochemistry major will have the benefit of knowing at least one of her teammates when she joins the Salukis this summer. She was a teammate of soon-to-be sophomore Rachel Pudlowski on the St. Louis Hype, a summer select team. The tandem helped the Hype amass a 31-6 record and win three of the seven tournaments they played in during the summer of 2015.
Walker played her high school ball at St. Charles, where she earned All-State honors as a senior and was a two-time recipient of the GAC North Female Athlete of the Year award. A four-sport standout at St. Charles, Walker finished her decorated prep career with the third-most points in school history.
The 6-foot forward joins a Saluki women's basketball recruiting class that includes a pair of highly-touted guards from state championship winning programs in Payton McAllister (5-10, G, Columbia ,Mo., Rock Bridge) and Caitlin Link (5-10, G, Madison, Wis., Edgewood).
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