Allazia Blockton Signs With Marquette Women's Basketball

Marquette women's basketball has already received five letters of intent for the fall of 2015, eclipsing the number of seniors that they'll lose after this season is over.  Last night, after MU's win over Loyola-Chicago, head coach Carolyn Kieger took to Twitter to celebrate, but not just for the win.

Huge day for our program! Got our first W and added Allazia Blockton @ZayaGotDaBooms_ to our family! Wow so excited coach this one!

— Carolyn Kieger (@ckieger) November 18, 2014

Allazia Blockton is currently a senior at Whitefish Bay (WI) Dominican High School.  Last season, she led the Knights to a 16-10 record and an appearance in the sectional championship game, narrowly missing out on a chance to get to the state final four.  Dominican pulled the upset in the semifinal round against #1 seed and undefeated Prairie School, led by 23 points and 14 rebounds from Blockton.  To give you an idea of how much that game was dominated by Blockton: the final score was 35-34.

Blockton has already broken Dominican's single season scoring record twice, and she averaged 24.3 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 2.4 steals a year ago.  Dominican head coach Kevin Schramka had this to say about his 5'10" star:

"A lot of people don't realize she plays all five positions during the game," Schramka said. "She'll bring the ball up against pressure, she gets the ball in the open court and she's an excellent passer. She doesn't get credit for her passing. She's a phenomenal scorer in the paint and has a quick jumper; she's got it all going. People forget that she jumps (during the tip) for us, too."

According to ProspectsNation.com, Blockton ranked #91 in the country, and is the 18th best wing player as well.  Blockton's signing gives Marquette four players in the Prospects Nation Top 150 for the class of 2015, and three of the five Wisconsin players ranked in the top 150 as well.

Blockton's signing gives Marquette a six player recruiting class for the fall of 2015, leaving Kieger with two available scholarships according to the NCAA limit.  That would give Marquette 13 players for the start of the 2015-16 season, and MU hasn't had a 13 player roster since the 2008-09 season.  Whether there's been a dedication to building the program up or a carry over from the Blue & Gold Fund raising $4 million for the first time ever last year, it's nice to see the athletic department having no problem with the financial expenditure needed to support that many student athletes.

We'll wrap up with this highlight reel of Blockton: