April 27, 2000
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky women’s basketball team signed four players to national letters-of-intent, Coach Bernadette Mattox announced today. Dasieka Hawthorne, a 5-6 point guard, Shambrica Jones, a 6-0 forward, Alvene Mendeng, a 6-1 forward and Danyelle Payne, a 5-9 guard, will join the Wildcat’s program as freshmen in the fall.
As a senior at Gulfport (Miss.) High School, Hawthorne averaged20.2 points, 6.0 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 steals per game. She wasnamed the Sun Herald’s Player of the Week twice in 2000 and was named tofive All Star teams. She was a member of the Mississippi State All-StarTournament Team, All-South Tournament Team, All-State Division EightTeam, Mississippi Athletic Conference (M.A.C) All-State Team and theAll-Coast Girl Basketball Team.
Hawthorne also was named her team’s Most Valuable Player. Inaddition, she received the Best Offensive Player award, the StudentAthlete Award, the Playermaker Award and the Highest Free ThrowPercentage Award (78.6).
Jones was a four-year starter at Yazoo City High School in YazooCity, Miss. As a senior she averaged 16.9 points and 10.1 rebounds pergame and charted 2.1 assists and 2.0 blocks. Jones was named the 1999Yazoo High School Athlete of the Year and was twice named MVP by herteam. She made the Class 4A All-State Tournament team and theMississippi North and South All-Star team.
Mendeng, a Dayton, Ohio native, averaged 16.8 points, 10.8rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.1 steals per game at Dayton ChristianAcademy as a senior. She was the Division II District 15 Player of theYear and was rated one of the Top 25 seniors by the Women’s BasketballCoaches Association.
Mendeng was a Special Mention All-American by the USA Today andwas first-team All-Area and Special Mention All-State. She also washonored with the team’s Most Outstanding Player Award, the BestOffensive Player Award and the Best Defensive Player Award.
Payne attended Paul Laurence Dunbar Senior High School inWashington D.C., where she charted 1,233 points, 617 rebounds and 344steals in her career. She was a three-year starter, scoring 30 pointsor more seven times her senior year. She even set a league record inthe 1999-00 season by scoring 50 points in a game. Payne recorded 14double-doubles and one triple-double in her senior year at Dunbar,helping her team advance to the playoffs where she averaged 27 pointsand 10 rebounds in the three games.
Payne was named Player of the Year by the league coaches and wasnamed first-team All-Conference for the second straight season. Shealso was named to the Washington Post All-Met team as a senior.
Hawthorne, Jones, Mendeng and Payne join Se Se Helm andStephanie Stoglin who signed with Kentucky in the early signing period.
