The University of the Fraser Valley Cascades women’s basketball program is adding more Chilliwack talent to the mix, with GW Graham's Kaitlyn McDonald committing for next season
McDonald has been tearing apart AA high school girls opposition this year, using her lethal three point shot to post several 40 point performances. Cascade coach Al Tuchscherer says she is arguably the best shooter in the province.
"Kaitlyn McDonald might be the best shooter to come out of the province in the past two or three years. She is dynamite,” Tuchscher told the Abbotsford News. "I saw her play the other day, and she knocked down 12 threes. She is routinely hitting seven, eight, nine, 10 threes in a game."
The Grade 12 hit the recruiting radar in a big way recently, and Tuchscherer had to work hard to land her.
“She was somewhat under the radar in terms of recruiting, playing for the Junior Cascades in the summer,” he said. "But in the past couple months, she's been heavily, heavily recruited. It got into a pretty fierce war once coaches saw her play."
McDonald is sharp academically, earning honours five years running.
She is the sixth GW Graham student-athlete to commit to a post-secondary school in either the CIS or CCAA, and the first female to be recruited by a top 10 CIS school.
“We are very excited for Kaitlyn and the opportunity coach Tuchscherer is giving her at UFV,” said Jake Mouritzen, the athletic director at GWG.
“It is a great accomplishment for her and one that she has earned through her own hard work and dedication to the game and her academics,” added GWG senior girls head coach Sarah Mouritzen.
The program McDonald joins is having a fantastic season. At 13-3, they sit first in the Pacific division of the Canada West conference. They ranked fourth nationally, and spent two weeks in top spot earlier this year.
The core of the Cascades is Chilliwack natives Sarah and Nicole Wierks, Kayli Sartori, Courtney Bartel and Alexa McCarthy.
In McDonald, Tuchscherer sees shades of former Cascade star Carmella Silvestri, a key player for the Cascades during their final years in the CCAA and as they made their transition to Canada West.
“We think that Kaitlyn is a player who can contribute immediately to our program but we are also keeping an eye on the future as we graduate five seniors in 2014,” he said. “We think Kaitlyn will have a big role, along with current younger kids, to really take our program to great places.”