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Report: Australia wing on UConn's recruiting radar
An additional scholarship came available following the transfer of Courtney Ekmark to Arizona State and according to a report, the UConn coaching staff is in the mix with Australian Chantel Horvat.
The 6-foot-2 Horvat was a member of the Australian team which won the bronze medal at the 2015 FIBA U19 World Championships.
Horvat averaged 5.7 points and 2.1 rebounds per game in the U-19 Worlds and her average of 22.54 points per 40 minutes ranked second on the team.
It's pretty interesting how UConn got involved with Horvat as current Phoenix Mercury star Penny Taylor, a member of the Australian Olympic teams which lost to the U.S. in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, told UConn coach Geno Auriemma about Horvat. Assistant coach Shea Ralph reached out to Horvat via email to see if she was serious about coming to the U.S. to play in college which is not a path the top Australian stars normally take.
The last time UConn went hard after a recruit from Australia came during the Diana Taurasi era when the Huskies were in the running to land Jessica Foley before she chose to head to Duke and actually hit a game-winning shot to beat the Huskies snapping UConn's 69-game home winning streak in 2004.
Horvat was the co-MVP of the Australian Junior National Championships in 2015 after averaging 21 points and 10 rebounds in the eight games. Her performance at the Australia U-16 championships in 2013 really put her on the radar. She averaged a tournament best 16.3 points per game and also averaged 8.1 rebounds and 3.5 steals per game.
She broke into the SEABL at age 14, the youngest player to ever see time in the league. This past season she averaged 9.7 points per game for the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence squad. As a point of reference, the top scorers in the league include former Division I standouts Kayla Standish, Chante Black (a former first-round pick of the Connecticut Sun), Kathleen Scheer and Mikaela Ruef.
UConn has three scholarships remaining in the Class of 2017 with U.S. U-18 team member Megan Walker as well as Mikalya Coombs both planning to visit UConn either later this summer or in the fall.
“It’s pretty surreal to think that UConn is now also one of the schools that are recruiting me," Horvat said in a blog post on the www.livonbasketball.com site. "Their presence will definitely make it harder to make a decision now."
The 6-foot-2 Horvat was a member of the Australian team which won the bronze medal at the 2015 FIBA U19 World Championships.
Horvat averaged 5.7 points and 2.1 rebounds per game in the U-19 Worlds and her average of 22.54 points per 40 minutes ranked second on the team.
It's pretty interesting how UConn got involved with Horvat as current Phoenix Mercury star Penny Taylor, a member of the Australian Olympic teams which lost to the U.S. in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, told UConn coach Geno Auriemma about Horvat. Assistant coach Shea Ralph reached out to Horvat via email to see if she was serious about coming to the U.S. to play in college which is not a path the top Australian stars normally take.
The last time UConn went hard after a recruit from Australia came during the Diana Taurasi era when the Huskies were in the running to land Jessica Foley before she chose to head to Duke and actually hit a game-winning shot to beat the Huskies snapping UConn's 69-game home winning streak in 2004.
Horvat was the co-MVP of the Australian Junior National Championships in 2015 after averaging 21 points and 10 rebounds in the eight games. Her performance at the Australia U-16 championships in 2013 really put her on the radar. She averaged a tournament best 16.3 points per game and also averaged 8.1 rebounds and 3.5 steals per game.
She broke into the SEABL at age 14, the youngest player to ever see time in the league. This past season she averaged 9.7 points per game for the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence squad. As a point of reference, the top scorers in the league include former Division I standouts Kayla Standish, Chante Black (a former first-round pick of the Connecticut Sun), Kathleen Scheer and Mikaela Ruef.
UConn has three scholarships remaining in the Class of 2017 with U.S. U-18 team member Megan Walker as well as Mikalya Coombs both planning to visit UConn either later this summer or in the fall.
“It’s pretty surreal to think that UConn is now also one of the schools that are recruiting me," Horvat said in a blog post on the www.livonbasketball.com site. "Their presence will definitely make it harder to make a decision now."
posted by Jim Fuller at
9:34 AM
1 Comments:
Watched a video on Horvat.. In addition to physical skills, sounds like a team-first player.
BTW, Geno was at USA BB training facility in CO this week watching Megan Walker as U18 team practiced and scrimmaged. U18 team will be in action in Chile beginning on Wednesday.
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