FULTON — Itawamba Community College women’s head basketball coach Nanci Gray announced sophomore Shay Bonner signed a National Letter of Intent to continue her basketball career at the University of Montevallo in Alabama next season.
“Shay came to ICC as an extremely well-coached athlete,” Gray said. “In the two years she was with us she grew tremendously and became an all-around basketball player as one of our top defenders and a really good scorer off dribble penetration.”
Bonner, a 5-foot-8 guard from Starkville, averaged 9.2 points, 2.4 assists, and 2.1 steals per game this past season to help lead the Lady Indians to a 26-3 record and the 2011-12 Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) State Championship. The Lady Indians were the runner-up in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region 23 tournament.
“When I went on my visit I felt really welcomed and knew that’s where I wanted to be,” Bonner said about Montevallo. “My time here at ICC was great, and I wish I could stay longer, but I look forward to this new chapter in my life.”
The MACJC second-team All-State selection scored a career-high 20 points against Lawson State and had a double-double (14 points, 12 rebounds) against Shelton State.
“Shay will be hard to replace,” Gray said. “I know the University of Montevallo is really excited to be getting an athlete of her quality. We wish her nothing but the best and we are going to miss her.”
Bonner graduated ICC with an associate’s degree in criminal justice. She plans to major in sociology at Montevallo, which went 11-16 last season and lost to the University of South Carolina at Aiken in the quarterfinals of the Peach Belt Conference tournament.
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