Blue White Illustrated

F our signees inked their letters of intent during the November signing period, becoming the first full recruiting class to join Carolyn Kieger at Penn State. The four-member class is comprised of Maddie Burke of Doylestown, Pa.; Kaci Donovan of Owego, N.Y.; Nan Garcia of Jeffersonville, Ind.; and Leilani Kapinus of Madison, Wis. The new Lady Lions will join the program next year. "I'm so excited to welcome these four young women into our program and the Penn State family," Kieger said. "They are going to help us in the classroom, on the court and in the community. Fans are going to love watching them, the players are going to love playing with them, and I cannot wait to coach all four of these young women." Kapinus, a 5-foot-10 point guard, is the most highly rated of the Lady Lions' re- cruits, ranking eighth at her position and 30th nationally according to ESPN HoopGurlz. She's averaged 14.7 points and 9.4 rebounds per game throughout her career at James Madison Memorial High, earning honorable mention All- State honors in 2018 while also claiming conference Defensive Player of the Year recognition. Kapinus holds school single- game records for steals (10), blocks (nine) and made free throws (11). A track and field standout who placed in the top 10 in the triple jump at Wiscon- sin's state championship meet, Kapinus said she chose Penn State "because it has the best coaching staff in the country, and the players made me feel welcome." "I'm ready to win some national cham- pionships," she said. Burke, a 6-0 guard, has excelled at Cen- tral Bucks West since her freshman sea- son. She helped lead the team to a 49-27 record during her first three seasons, in- cluding a Suburban One League champi- onship as a freshman. She entered her senior year with averages of 12.4 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Burke, whose twin sister, Allie, is headed to American University to play volleyball, is ranked among the top 50 players in her class by Preferred Athlete (No. 27), Blue Star (No. 39) and Prospect Nation (No. 48), while ASGR has her rated 80th overall. She was invited to the 2018 USA Women's U17 World Cup team trials and was also a finalist for the 2017 USA Bas- ketball Women's U16 national team. Donovan is a two-time All-State and three-time All-Conference pick from Owego Free Academy. The 6-1 guard tal- lied a single-season school record 542 points as a junior, leading the Indians to a 19-2 record, Metro Division champi- onship and Section IV Class B runner-up finish. After the season, she was named to the first-team All-State squad and was the Section IV Class B Player of the Year. A member of the varsity basketball team at Owego Free Academy since seventh grade, Donovan has amassed 1,456 points (14.1 ppg), 504 rebounds (4.9 rpg), 236 as- sists (2.3 apg) and 229 steals (2.2 spg). She ranks second in school history in scoring and went into her senior season needing only 271 points to break Owego's all-time scoring record. Donovan helped the Philadelphia Belles AAU team finish first in the U17 bracket of the Nike Tournament of Champions in Chicago earlier this year. She attended the U17 U.S. national team trials at the Olympic Training Center in May 2018. Donovan, whose father, Bill, is a 1991 Penn State graduate, said one of the rea- sons she chose the Lady Lions was be- cause of her familiarity with the school. "I've always loved being on campus," she said. "My parents told me that I attended my first Blue and White game 10 days be- fore I was born, so Penn State has always felt like home to me. I'm so lucky to be going to college at the place that I love." Garcia, a 6-0 guard, is ranked 24th at her position by the College Girls Basketball Report. She led Jeffersonville High in points, steals and blocks during her soph- omore and junior seasons and went into her senior year with 1,081 points (14.8 ppg), 486 rebounds (6.7 rpg), 138 steals (1.9 spg) and 88 assists (1.2 apg). She averaged 19.9 points and 9.0 rebounds per game as a junior while shooting 51 percent from the floor and 41 percent from 3-point range. Garcia is a two-time recipient of the News and Tribune Player of the Year award, in addition to being named an IBCA Supreme 15 All-State honoree. She represented Puerto Rico, her home coun- try, this past summer at the FIBA Cen- trobasket U17 Women's Championships. A two-sport athlete who has won All- Area honors in softball, Garcia said she chose Penn State "because I believe it will be a home far away from home. I love the family atmosphere." ■ W O M E N ' S B A S K E T B A L L PSU lands four players in November signing period McDaniel scores 40 in victory over Panthers Kamaria McDaniel recorded the third 40-point game in school his- tory when she led Penn State to a 78-73 victory over Pitt in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Dec. 5 at the Bryce Jordan Center. McDaniel's 40 points were the most ever scored by a Lady Lion player in the BJC. The junior guard became the

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