Three coming in from Mississippi.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 27, 2000) — The University of Kentuckywomen’s basketball team signed four players tonational letters-of-intent, Coach Bernadette Mattoxannounced today. Dasieka Hawthorne, a 5-6 pointguard, Shambrica Jones, a 6-0 forward, AlveneMendeng, a 6-1 forward and Danyelle Payne, a 5-9guard, will join the Wildcat’s program as freshmen inthe fall.
As a senior at Gulfport (Miss.) High School,Hawthorne averaged 20.2 points, 6.0 assists, 5.0rebounds and 4.0 steals per game. She was namedthe Sun Herald’s Player of the Week twice in 2000and was named to five All Star teams. She was amember of the Mississippi State All-Star TournamentTeam, All-South Tournament Team, All-State DivisionEight Team, Mississippi Athletic Conference (M.A.C)All-State Team and the All-Coast Girl BasketballTeam.
Hawthorne also was named her team’s Most ValuablePlayer. In addition, she received the Best OffensivePlayer award, the Student Athlete Award, thePlayermaker Award and the Highest Free ThrowPercentage Award (78.6).
Jones was a four-year starter at Yazoo City High School in Yazoo City, Miss.As a senior she averaged 16.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game and charted2.1 assists and 2.0 blocks. Jones was named the 1999 Yazoo High SchoolAthlete of the Year and was twice named MVP by her team. She made theClass 4A All-State Tournament team and the Mississippi North and SouthAll-Star team.
Mendeng, a Dayton, Ohio native, averaged 16.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.2assists and 2.1 steals per game at Dayton Christian Academy as a senior. Shewas the Division II District 15 Player of the Year and was rated one of the Top25 seniors by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.
Mendeng was a Special Mention All-American by the USA Today and wasfirst-team All-Area and Special Mention All-State. She also was honored withthe team’s Most Outstanding Player Award, the Best Offensive Player Awardand the Best Defensive Player Award.
Payne attended Paul Laurence Dunbar Senior High School in Washington D.C.,where she charted 1,233 points, 617 rebounds and 344 steals in her career.She was a three-year starter, scoring 30 points or more seven times her senioryear. She even set a league record in the 1999-00 season by scoring 50 pointsin a game. Payne recorded 14 double-doubles and one triple-double in hersenior year at Dunbar, helping her team advance to the playoffs where sheaveraged 27 points and 10 rebounds in the three games.
Payne was named Player of the Year by the league coaches and was namedfirst-team All-Conference for the second straight season. She also was namedto the Washington Post All-Met team as a senior.
Hawthorne, Jones, Mendeng and Payne join Se Se Helm and Stephanie Stoglinwho signed with Kentucky in the early signing period.
