INDIANAPOLIS -- The IUPUI Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and Women’s Basketball Head Coach Shann Hart have announced that Del’Niqua Bellamy (Detroit, Mich./Martin Luther King), Katie Comello (Colerain Township, Ohio/Cincinnati Christian), Shakeeta Cotton (Kokomo, Ind./Kankakee Community) and Demetria Nunley-Lash (Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis) have signed National Letters of Intent to join the women’s basketball team in 2010-11.
The quartet joins Dawn Luster (Holland, Ill./T.F. North) and Shea Collins (Las Vegas, Nev./Silverado) as commitments for the 2010-11 season. The sextet is the highest-profile incoming class in IUPUI women’s basketball history.
"I’m really excited about our class," Hart said. "All six players will have a chance to contribute immediately to the winning tradition we continue to build at IUPUI."
Bellamy joins Collins as one of two ESPN.com top-100 rated recruits, as the Detroit native was evaluated as the 63rd-best guard in the country. The 5-foot-3 guard averaged 9.6 points per game to go along with 2.9 assists and 3.7 steals, helping lead the Crusaders to the semifinals of the Detroit Public School League tournament.
Competing for Michigan Crossover in AAU basketball, Bellamy had been considering Kentucky, Michigan, Penn State, Michigan State and Maryland before choosing IUPUI.
Comello comes to IUPUI a year after attending NAIA school Cincinnati Christian. With the Eagles, Comello led the team in scoring, posting 14.7 points per game, while posting 3.5 steals and 4.3 assists per game. Comello was among NAIA Division II leaders in both categories, finishing 12th and 24th in the country, respectively.
At Colerain High School, Comello earned First Team All-Greater Miami Conference honors her senior year, as well as First Team All-City and Third Team All-Southwest Ohio District accolades. A 1,000-point scorer in high school, Comello also helped lead her AAU team, the Kentucky Xtreme, to a Sweet 16 finish at the AAU Nationals prior to her freshman year.
The 5-foot-8 Cotton attended Kankakee Community College for two seasons, posting 13.0 points per game in her sophomore season to go along with 2.7 rebounds and 3.5 assists. Leading the Cavaliers to the NJCAA Division II national tournament, Cotton posted 16.3 ppg in helping KCC to a fourth-place finish, picking up all-tournament team honors.
In addition to her postseason award, Cotton was selected the NJCAA Division IV Tournament MVP and earned a place on the All-Region IV First Team.
Nunley-Lash is the latest local recruit to join the Jaguars, as she helped lead Ben Davis High School to consecutive IHSAA state championships, as the Giants held the nation’s No. 1 ranking for most of the 2009-10 season.
In the state finals, Nunley-Lash scored a season-high 20 points, helping Ben Davis to a 99-52 win and their second straight IHSAA 4A title.
A 5-foot-9 wing, Nunley-Lash did a little bit of everything for Ben Davis, finishing the Giants’ undefeated campaign with averages of 8.6 points per game, 5.1 rebounds, 2,1 steals and 1.3 assists per contest.
Nunley-Lash is one of two Ben Davis players selected to the Indiana Girls Basketball All-Star team, which will take on the Kentucky All-Stars on June 11-12.
Collins rewrote the record books at Silverado High School, averaging 19.0 points per game her senior year, hitting 95-of-253 three-point field goal attempts. The 98th-ranked point guard in America per ESPN.com, Collins set a Silverado record with 10 three-point field goals in 15 attempts, finishing with 34 points in a win over Coronado H.S. on Feb. 3.
The 5-foot-4 point finished her career as Silverado’s all-time leading scorer and was a three-time all-state selection in Nevada.
Luster led T.F. North High School to the Illinois Class 3A Sectional Finals, where they just missed out on a supersectional berth. Keying T.F. North’s transitional attack, Luster was one of the featured players on a team that featured four Division I recruits. The 5-foot-9 guard also entertained offers from Loyola and Northern Illinois and had significant interest from Eastern Michigan.
The 2010-11 IUPUI women’s basketball season will tip off in mid-November.
