THE SAINT MARY’S Huskies women’s basketball team just got a whole lot better.

 

The Huskies have persuaded two-time metro high school league MVP Justine Colley to turn aside some major recruiters, including some NCAA Division 1 schools, to stay home.

 

The five-foot-nine Colley, a guard turning 18 next month who’s best known for her competitive drive, wouldn’t say who she rejected to play for the Huskies, but said she had many offers from all over North America.

 

Reached at home in East Preston, the Halifax Grammar School product said her decision was influenced by proximity to home and her extensive background with Huskies head coach Scott Munro.

 

"I felt it was the best university for me," said Colley, considered to be one of the strongest players ever to come out of the Nova Scotia high school ranks. "They are well-known academically and I also have a close connection with the head coach.

 

"It’s also very close to home, so it’s always great to come home and have a home-cooked meal every now and then."

 

The Huskies have hit on hard times in recent years and Colley’s arrival will give the program a major spark. Saint Mary’s went 2-18 last season.

 

Colley said basketball only made up a portion of her decision, which she relayed to Munro on Monday night.

 

"I honestly feel that’s not the main component to university life, it’s really the academics that’s involved with it," said Colley, an International Baccalaureate graduate who will study sciences in university.

 

Colley was a member of last summer’s Canadian under-18 team, as well as a member of Basketball Nova Scotia’s provincial teams from 2002 to 2008, representing Nova Scotia at the midget and juvenile national championships where she was a three-time all-star.

 

She was a member of the Halifax Grammar team that won the 2007 Division 1 provincial championship.

 

"Having had the pleasure of coaching her before, I know she’s a tremendous competitor, an unbelievable person, a very talented basketball player and a very good student," said Munro. "She’s really what we’re looking for at Saint Mary’s as far as taking the program forward. I think she’s probably the top recruit that’s going to stay in Canada this year and we’re very excited to have her."

 

Munro said he never knew for sure who he was competing against, but bent Colley’s ear all year.

 

"I sold what Saint Mary’s could do for her and tried to talk about the direction of our program," he said. "I know we didn’t have the greatest year last year, but I took this job to try to get Saint Mary’s to a national level on the women’s stage … and she’s going to be a key piece of that goal.

 

"We tried to sell being close to home. It’s great to have that support network and play in front of your friends and family. Sometimes you can go down and play in a Divison 1 program, but maybe at the end of your career nobody knows how you did."

 

Kathy Spurr, Colley’s coach at Halifax Grammar, said she fielded more calls about Colley in the past two years than the rest of her players combined over 10 years in the job.

 

( mmosher@herald.ca)

 

This page last modified Sunday, 07-Nov-2010 16:43:26 AST