IUP women’s basketball coach
Cindy Martin recently signed a pair of early signings for the 2007-08
season. The duo includes Lacey Claar from Claysburg-Kimmel High School and
Lauren Kukic from East Allegheny High School.
A 5-foot-7 combo guard,
Claar is in her senior season at Claysburg-Kimmel and has already enjoyed a
highly decorated prep career. Claar has lettered in basketball as well as
volleyball and softball three times and has averages of 19.3 points, 8.0
rebounds, 5.6 assists and 4.0 steals on the hardwood.
She
has been selected the Bedford Gazette MVP in basketball all three years and
has received the same award from the Juniata Valley League the past two
seasons. Claar (right) is a two-time Altoona Mirror first team all-star and
was a second team all-state selection following her junior season.
Claar led Claysburg-Kimmel
to back-to-back Juniata Valley League championship teams and a berth in the
Elite Eight of the state playoffs. She has also been selected the
volleyball team’s MVP the past two years and has been a two-time Mountain
Athletic Conference all-star in softball.
Claar is a member of the
National Honor Society and served as president of the Student Council. She
plans on majoring in counseling at IUP.
“Lacey is a very aggressive
scorer who will make an impact immediately on offense as a shooting guard
and at the point guard spot,” said Martin. “She is physical and smart and
has had a great career in high school. Her leadership ability will be a
great addition to our already strong backcourt.”
Kukic
(left) is a senior at East Allegheny and in her fourth season as a member of
the basketball team, lettering in each of the past three years. She
averaged 6.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game on a WPIAL
playoff squad in 2005-06.
Kukic, a 5-foot-11
guard/forward has been on the honor roll her entire high school academic
career and plans on majoring in math education at IUP.
“Lauren has primarily played
the post position in high school and we look for her to make the transition
to be a face up player as well at IUP,” said Martin. “She has great
athleticism and is a very quick learner in the low post. Lauren will split
time between the wing and the post and will help us right away on the
defensive end.
