STARKVILLE — Vic Shaefer picked up an extremely popular verbal commitment over the weekend as the new women’s basketball head coach tries to establish his recruiting reputation at Mississippi State University.
Columbus High School point guard Kiandria Patterson, who is considered one of the best players in the Magnolia state in the Class of 2013, gave her verbal pledge to the Lady Bulldogs program Saturday and will instantly be considered Schaefer’s lead guard for the future of the MSU program under his new leadership.
“I want to be a part of Mississippi State and the new Lady Bulldogs program,” Patterson said. “I feel like with this new coaching staff and new team that I can bring something to the table right away.”
After averaging 20.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game, Patterson was named The Dispatch’s Co-Player of the Year for the large schools in the coverage area as a junior backing up all the multiple preseason All-State honors she received before leading Columbus High to a 25-3 record.
Patterson chose MSU this past weekend after narrowing her choices down from over a dozen scholarship offers to the Lady Bulldogs or the University of South Carolina.
“It was big for friends and family to not have to search on the television to find my games but could just drive over to the Humphrey Coliseum to see me play,” Patterson said.
The choice for the 5-foot-9 point guard became easier with the nonstop recruiting attention the new MSU staff showed Patterson and the fact the Starkville campus is just 30 minutes from her family and friends in Columbus.
“I think MSU being so close played a real role in her decision because I told her to make the best decision for her in the short and the long-term once you got to campus,” Columbus High coach Yvonne Hairston said. “I know with MSU being a half-hour away, she’ll attract a crowd from people that have always come watch her play right here in Columbus.”
Patterson is the kind of talent Schaefer most likely was referring to when he talked to reporters in June without specifically mentioning the name of any prospects at all.
“We’ve got 12 points a game coming back (so) you’re doggone right I’m looking for somebody that can score,” Schaefer said. “That’s an area that we’re looking for, but there is a type of player, a build, not just athletic but the makeup of a player that we need.”
Patterson is a 5-foot-9 left-handed guard with superior ball handling, court vision and shooting skills to be dynamic offensive player at the next level. Something Hairston said she was convinced Schaefer and the MSU program wanted from the moment the former Texas A&M University assistant coach received the job in Starkville.
“We went over to their basketball camp at Mississippi State this summer and they really stepped up what they doing in recruiting with her and she played extremely well that weekend too,” Hairston said. “I told the MSU staff flat out ‘you know she’s not a real true point guard right?’ and they responded by telling us they knew that and her skills was something they needed at the next level.”
Patterson, who was selected to play in the Mississippi/Alabama All-Star Game in July after her junior season, cracked the lineup as a freshman for the Lady Falcons and will try to average more than 20 points and over seven rebounds per game in each of her final three high school campaigns.
“Once I got done with the camp in July, the coaches said they’d been trying to get a hold of me for weeks and then just showed much I would be loved and embraced in their family,” Patterson said.
She will have the opportunity to officially end her recruiting, something she’s wanted to move past for almost a year, by signing a National Letter-of-Intent with MSU during the NCAA’s early signing period between Nov. 14-21.
“This is the best thing ever for her to make that commitment because she was getting a lot of calls and I mean, every day from schools,” Hairston said. “We’re just all extremely happy that she is staying close to home.”
After making her pledge as the third verbal commitment to Schaefer and MSU in the Class of 2013, Patterson will now set her sights on finally reaching the state finals at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson — the one thing that has eluded her in her prep career.
“It’s a goal now that is bigger now than ever because I’m a senior,” Patterson said. “I think the younger girls on our team know what it takes to get that gold ball trophy and they knew I’ll try everything I can to lead them there this season.”
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