The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/130469
2013 basketball recruiting issue Adidas in St. Louis, and became enamored with her game. "Paige really impressed me from the get-go," Barnes Arico said. "She did a lot of really great things. She passed the ball extremely well, but the best thing she did was shoot the ball. She has a great release, and with the loss of Kate [Thompson, the team's leading scorer and best threepoint shooter] I knew that was a role we would need to fill. "On her high school team, they needed her to do everything. She was expected to score, while being double- and tripled-teamed at times. Now, she won't be double-teamed in those situations, because she'll be surrounded by other great players, whereas in high school, so much was expected of her." Rakers, who was receiving interest from smaller local schools like Southern Illinois, had a goal of going to Michigan. "It felt like a dream come true," Rakers said. "It didn't feel real at the time. Coach Arico first contacted me last June, and ever since then, Michigan was where I wanted to go. I wanted to work hard enough to eventually get a scholarship offer, and it ended up happening. "Just talking to here and the coaching staff on the phone, I made a connection with them that was different than any other coaches I was dealing with. I felt like part of the team to Rakers is a two-time winner of The Belleville them, like a member of the family. News-Democrat Illinois Class 1A-2A Player They're very friendly. And the other members of the team, I feel like I fit Of The Year award. photo courtesy paige rakers with them. They're all good kids." ❑