WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
STATE
ART
OF THE
BOARD CERTIFIED
Green has surpassed
800 rebounds in her
Penn State career
and is within reach
of 1,000 points.
Senior Nikki Greene
is a rebounding force
for the Lady Lions
C
oquese Washington took one
look at 6-foot-4 Nikki Greene
during a summer recruiting trip
to a basketball tournament in
Alabama and told her then-assistant coach Itoro Coleman that this
was a player she had to have.
Greene was part of a treasure trove
of tall players from Texas high schools
who were being recruited by national
programs when Washington signed her
second class in 2009.
Greene had many suitors. She visited
Rutgers and was planning a trip to the
University of Texas when Hurricane
Ike wiped out the visit, one she did not
reschedule. LSU also was after her
from the time she was in eighth grade,
but Washington made all the right
moves to sign the post player from Diboll.
"When Coquese started recruiting me
and I told her that I could draw, she
was like, 'Well, draw me something,' "
Greene said. Wondering how best to
tell Washington she had decided to attend Penn State, Greene applied her
artistic skills. "I handed her a picture.
She opened it and it made her day. It
was very exciting to know that I had
Mark Selders/Penn State Athletic Communications
