Women's Recruiting: Fairfield Fills Forward, PG Needs

Here's another in the series looking at incoming players to conference programs for the coming season.

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FAIRFIELD WOMEN

- LIZZY BALL (5-7 guard, New Hampton, N.H., Prep School): She averaged 12.7 points, 8.3 assists and 7.2 rebounds in her prep season at New Hampton. A stat-sheet filler, she is reported to be a standout point guard capable of going past defenders for pull-up jumpers or dishing off to open teammates. Your Hoopscribe saw Ball play extensively in the 2011 GymRat Challenge AAU tournament in New York's Capital Region, and was highly impressed. She is not only talented, but an extremely hard worker. A very good point guard who could be an immediate starter and is likely to be a very significant contributor throughout her career.

- CHRISTA SCAGNAMIGLIO (5-10 guard, Pearl River, N.Y., H.S.): She averaged 16.7 points per game this past season, while making an average of 1.8 three-pointers per contest. She had a school-best 1,685 career points over her career. She was a three-time Rockland County Girls' Player of the Year. An outstanding shooter, she reportedly developed the rest of her game throughout her scholastic career.

- KRISTIN SCHATZLEIN (6-0 guard, Tolland, Conn., H.S.): She averaged 18.5 points, 9.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game as a high school senior, earning Connecticut's Player of the Year honors. Another well-round player with the ability to score, she scored 1,700 career points at the high school level.

- CASEY GRACE (6-1 forward, Dawson Community College of Glendive, Mont.): A native of Ireland, she averaged 14.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game at Dawson CC. She also played for the Glanmire Basketball Club in Ireland, and was named the Female under-18 International Player of the Year by the Irish Examiner newspaper after leading her team to a national championship.

ANALYSIS: Fairfield graduated standouts at forward (Taryn Johnson ) and point guard (Desire Pina), needed replacements and might have found them in Grace, an athletic forward; and, Ball, who already has a post-high school season playing at the point against high-level competition while in prep school. Those two each have a chance to play significant minutes this season. Scagnamiglio and Schatzlein both get the benefit of playing behind veteran perimeter players, but each fits the Fairfield mold of being able to score points from the perimeter and should provide bench strength immediately and a continuation of the program's ability to have numerous good shooters on the court in future years.