Monday, June 27, 2011

Women's Verbal Perfect Fit For Canisius

Your hoopscribe has purposely stayed away from reporting on individual recruiting comments because we'll provide a full recruiting roundup on every team in coming weeks. But, a recent commitment to a conference program merits a mention merely because it appears to be a perfect fit.

That would be a recent verbal commitment made by Emily Weber, a rising senior at Shenendehowa High School (Clifton Park, N.Y.), to Canisius on Sunday. She will join the Golden Griffins' program for the 2012-13 season.

Weber, a slender 5-foot-9 guard does one thing particularly well ... shoot the ball, and shoot it from long range. For the past two high school seasons she has been arguably the best long-range shooter among girl players in New York's Capital Region. This past season she shot 55.3 percent from the field, the third straight year she has shot better than 50 percent from the floor. And the majority of those shots have come from the perimeter. Twice this past season she made six 3-pointers in a game, and hit four in two other games.

All of which fits perfectly into what Canisius has done best in recent years: score from the perimeter.

The Griffs had set an NCAA record by making at least one 3-pointer in 510 consecutive games until that streak ended in a Feb. 12 game against Iona this season (Canisius went 0-for-12 from bonus territory in that game). Until then the team had made at least one 3-pointer in every game it played beginning on Jan. 8, 1994.

But Canisius uncharacteristically misfired slightly from long range this past season, only making 157 from 3-point land (after hitting 218 from beyond the stripe the previous year), only the fifth-highest total of 10 MAAC teams.

But, head coach Terry Zeh has long showed an inclination to get production from long range, and Weber's commitment to his program certainly solidifies the program's commitment to having long-range snipers.

Which is what makes this particular commitment a perfect fit.

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