By Bob Hertzel
MORGANTOWN — West Virginia University’s women’s basketball team picked up what Coach Mike Carey calls “truly one of the premier post players in the country” on Monday when it was announced that Ayana Dunning is transferring from LSU to WVU.
Dunning is a 6-3 forward out of Columbus, Ohio, who played for the Bayou Tigers last season as a true freshman after a high school All-American career at Eastmoor Academy in Ohio.
She will sit out next year and have three years of eligibility remaining.
“Ayana is truly one of the premier post players in the country,” Carey said. “She’s a true low-post threat that has excellent low-post abilities, passing skills and has tremendous shooting skills away from the basket.”
Dunning played 23 games last season at LSU, averaging 5.1 points and 4.2 rebounds in 13.2 minutes per game, scoring a career-best 10 points with 10 rebounds at then-No. 18 Vanderbilt. She had five double-figure scoring games and two double-digit rebounding games.
“Ayana was highly recruited by all the major programs in the country out of high school, Carey noted.
In high school, Dunning averaged 17.6 points and 13.1 rebounds at Eastmoor Academy. She was ranked the 12th best player in the nation by HoopGurlz.com and the third best post player. She played in the 2008 McDonald’s All-American Game, was WBCA All-American and a finalist for Ms. Basketball by Parade Magazine.
Dunning holds the career scoring and rebounding marks at Eastmor while averaging 18.4 points and 13.1 rebounds as a senior. Her junior season was even better, averaging 19.8 points a game and 14 rebounds.
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Two videos produced by the Mountaineer Sports Network (MSN0 were named finalists for a Global Media Award by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Sports Video Group.
In the special feature category, MSN’s feature on WVU men’s basketball player Alex Ruoff, which aired on the weekly television show “Mountaineer Jammin” was one of four videos nominated for the Global Award.
In the outstanding highlight category, MSN’s season-ending package on the 2008 Meineke Car Care Bowl was one of four videos nominatged for the Global Award.
Both were produced by MNS senior producer Chris Ostien.
Contact Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com or through Facebook.
