MONTEVALLO, Ala. – University of Montevallo women's basketball coach Gary Van Atta announced his 2017 signing class. Van Atta brings in six players that are expected to compete and play an important role next season for the Falcons.
This year's class includes three freshman and three transfers, with two coming in as juniors and one as a sophomore.
The addition of these six players helps Coach Van Atta address depth issues that were experienced last season and fills the needs that arise due to graduations.
"We are very excited about our recruiting class. We addressed some key issues for our team", said Coach Van Atta. "The first was depth. We needed to be much deeper than we were this year and I think we accomplished that goal. We added six talented players to our freshman, sophomore and junior classes. We signed three true freshmen, one sophomore transfer, and two junior transfers."
Each signee brings with them strengths and experiences that Van Atta believes will help this team through their rebuilding process.
"We are now a little stronger, a little deeper and a little more experienced than we were a year ago. We added shooters and experience to next year's roster. All six signees can shoot the three and the three transfers add a wealth of experience. The three transfers combined have played in more than 150 games at the college level. The one area we did not address in this year's recruiting class was post play but we will continue our search until school begins in late August. It will also be a priority in our 2018 and 2019 classes."
Incoming Freshmen:
De'Asia Marsh // 5'10" // Forward // Robert E. Lee High School // Montgomery, Ala.
Marsh averaged 11.7 points, 8.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 2.6 steals during her senior season. Marsh recorded eight
double-doubles and was named to the class 7A All-Metro team and led the Lady Generals to their fourth consecutive 18+ win season.
As a junior, Marsh was named AHSSA Class 7A First Team All-Tournament and Class 7A All-Metro.
Marsh ended her career with over 700 points and 450 rebounds for the Lady Generals.
Academically, Marsh finished in the top 10% of her class.
Coach Van Atta on Marsh: "De'Asia is an extremely hardworking, motivated player with a high basketball IQ. She plays hard and can be seen diving on the floor for loose balls. She is the type of "high energy" player that coaches love to coach. She is an excellent three-point shooter but can also put it on the floor and power to the basket. De'Asia is also a strong defender and rebounder. She fills a huge need for us at the shooting guard/power forward combo positions. She's a perfect fit academically and athletically for Montevallo. We are anticipating a bright future for her here on the cobblestones!"
Cheyenne Cunningham // 5'6" // Guard // Jackson SouthSide // Jackson, Tenn.
Cunningham averaged 9.8 points, 4.7 assists, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.2 steals during her senior season. As a junior, Cunningham averaged 11
points, six assists, and five rebounds. Named the Player of the Year six times by Max Preps during her career, Cunningham was also named the SouthSide Player of the year by Max Prep.
After her senior season, Cunningham was named by the Jackson Sun as their Super Senior.
Cunningham signed with Montevallo during the early signing period but wanted to wait to be announced with the rest of her future teammates.
Coach Van Atta on Cunningham: Cheyenne is another player that fills a need for us due to graduation. She plays with a passion for winning. She has a very high motor and a drive to be the best that we need desperately in our rebuilding process. She is not the prototypical point guard. She is strong with the ball and will attack defenses. She has great court vision and can really pass the ball. She's a tenacious defender and an excellent rebounder. Cheyenne is an excellent student and will be a great addition to our team. She is excited to team up with former high school teammate with current Montevallo player, Kiya Sain.
Nautika Philpot // 5'6" // Guard // Auburn High School // Auburn, Ala.
Philpot signed with Montevallo during the early signing period in the fall of 2016. 
During her senior season, Philpot averaged 18 points at Auburn High School. She also averaged eight assists, three rebounds, and five steals. This season, Philpot was named the ASWA Class 7A second team All-State, Class 7A first team All-Area, the Class 7A Area All-Tournament Team, and the AHSSA Class 7A Regional All-Tournament team.
Philpot scored over 1,000 points over her career at Auburn High School.
Coach Van Atta on Philpot: Nautika had an excellent year and made us all proud after signing in the early signing period and going out producing at a high level. Nautika, after averaging over 18 points per game this season, has received several honors including being named to the ASWA All-State 2nd Team.
Sophomore Transfers:
Teresa "Paige" Ward // 5'8" // Guard // Snead State Community College // Huntsville, Ala.
Ward joins the Falcon squad after playing her freshman season at Snead State Community College. The sophomore guard averaged 6.9 points, three rebounds, and 2.3 assists a game last season and shot 35.9 percent from the floor and also had a 33.8 percent shooting percentage from beyond the three-point arc.
Ward prepped at Buckhorn High School in Huntsville, Ala. where she averaged 12 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals during her career. She was named to the AHSSA Class 7A All-Area team and the Class 7A Final Four All-Tournament team. Ward was also named Honorable Mention All-Metro.
At Buckhorn, Ward was a member of the National Honor Society and the Presidents Education Awards Program. She was also the recipient of the United States Army Reserve National Scholar-Athlete Award and the United States Marine Corps Distinguished Athlete Award.
Coach Van Atta on Ward: Paige has all the guard skills to play at this level. She can pass, dribble and shoots it really well from three-point range. She had an excellent freshman year starting every game at Snead State CC, where she helped lead them to a 19-10 record on their way to a 4th place finish in the ACCC. She was third in the ACCC in three-point field goal percentage in conference play, making over 39% of her shots from behind the arc. She's an excellent defender and will take a charge on an out of control offensive player. She learns quickly and will make an impact on our team. We are excited to have her at Montevallo for 3 years. She's a winner and played high school basketball for perennial powerhouse Class 7A Buckhorn High School in Alabama.
Junior Transfers:
Kassidy Bonebrake // 5'6" // Guard // Lake Land Community College // Crawfordsville, Ind.
Bonebrake transfers to Montevallo after a successful career at Lake Land Community College where she averaged 13.8 points a game this season and also had an average of 2.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists. Bonebrake shot 37.4 percent from the floor and 37.6 from behind the arc. Bonebrake accumulated 46 steals on the season and was named the 2017 NJCAA Region 14 Most Valuable Player as well as an NJCAA second-team All-American.
Coach Van Atta on Bonebrake: Kassidy will be our most experienced newcomer. She spent three years (including a redshirt season in 2015-16) at Lake Land CC. She played in 69 games and started 44 games. Her record at LLCC was 42-27. They were 20-12 her freshman year and finished 19-11 this year. She made a dramatic improvement from her freshman season in 2014-15 to her redshirt sophomore season in 2016-17. As a freshman, she averaged 4.5 points per game and only shot 26% from three point range making only 33 triples from beyond the arc. Her redshirt sophomore season, she led her team in scoring averaging 13.8 points per games and shooting almost 38% from three point range making 92 threes (5th most in NJCCA D2). She is strong academically and will be a perfect fit for our program.
Aaliyah Rice // 5'10" // Forward // Northwest Florida State CC // Decatur, Ala.
Rice transfers to Montevallo after playing the past two seasons at Northwest Florida State Community College. Rice averaged eight points, 3.3 rebounds, and was a 60 percent free throw shooter in her final season with the Raiders. Rice also participated in the 2016 NJCAA All-Star Game.
Rice prepped at Austin High School in Decatur, Ala. where she averaged 14 points and 6.5 rebound per game. Rice was named the AHSSA Class 7A All-Area team and a member of the ASWA Class 7A All-State team in 2013, 2014, and 2015. In 2015 she was also named to the AHSSA Class 7A Final Four team.
Coach Van Atta on Rice: Aaliyah comes to us from Northwest Florida State CC, where she played in 66 games. During her two years, she played the power forward position and was a strong contributor on a team that averaged 18 wins a season. Her freshman year was the NWF's most successful year, going 22-12. During that season, NWF played for the Region Championship and advanced to the NJCCA Sweet 16 at the National Showcase. For her career, Aaliyah shot almost 50% from the field and 75% from the free throw line. We think Aaliyah's best years are ahead of her. We believe that she will be a major impact player for us. She can do it all with a basketball in her hands. She's strong and will be hard to guard in mismatch situations. She hails from Austin High school near Decatur, Alabama. Welcome home, Aaliyah!
