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The future is extremely bright for Oregon State basketball. On the first day of the early signing period the women’s basketball team signed four highly touted high school recruits (two of them are 5-stars recruits). The four basketball players who signed are: Timea Gardiner, Raegan Beers, Adlee Blacklock and Lily Hansford. The group is ranked as the third highest recruiting class in the nation; only behind UCLA & Oregon. In fact, five of the top six classes are Pac-12 schools (UConn is the one exception). Here’s a quick summary on each signee:
Timea Gardiner - 6-foot-3, Forward
Gardiner is the 6th-highest rated player in the 2022 class. She averaged 14.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game as a sophomore, and followed that up with 13.5 points and 7.1 boards per contest last season as a junior. She’s an elite player on both ends of the floor.
Raegan Beers - 6-foot-2, Post
Beers is a top-10 player in the 2022 class. She averaged 15.5 points and 10.1 rebounds as a sophomore. She’s a fantastic scorer in the post with her back to the basket. She also has a tremendous knack and motor for grabbing rebounds and playing defense.
Adlee Blacklock- 6-foot-0, Guard
Blacklock is a talented guard from Texas. She averaged 21.3 points and 6.7 rebounds as a sophomore, before sustaining an injury that wiped away her junior season. She even scored 50-points in the regional finals. She can truly do it all on the basketball court and I believe she’s going to have a fantastic senior season and be ranked even higher on the recruiting rankings.
Lily Handsford - 6-foot-2, Guard
Hansford is a left-handed sharp shooter. She averaged 13.1 points and 4.6 rebounds as a sophomore, while shooting 43% from beyond the arc. She is also an all-conference tennis player.
In addition to praising each girls talents on the basketball court Scott Rueck also added “All four of them of the highest character, and are fantastic role models. They’re each perfect complements to our program, and I couldn’t be more excited to add this group to our basketball family. The future is bright.”
The last few years Rueck and his staff have been accumulating some of the most talented players in school history. The Pac-12 looks like it’ll continue to be the top conference for women’s basketball and Oregon State will be competing with the best of them. The future for women’s basketball is bright indeed.