RedStorm women sign Barnes

Rio Grande --- The University of Rio Grande women's basketball program has signed Megan Barnes of Hillsboro High School to a national letter of intent for the 2010-11 season. 

Barnes, a 5'5" shooting guard, also played soccer for Hillsboro.  Barnes is an outstanding student as she received the Edward Jones Outstanding Female Scholar Athlete of the month this past February. She was named Southeast Ohio Scholastic Soccer Coaches Association All-District Honorable Mention in the fall. 

Barnes was the varsity defensive Player of the Year for the Lady Indians soccer team. 

She shot 27 percent (23-of-85) from three-point land on the basketball court this past season in averaging six points and two rebounds per game. She shot 32.5 percent (26-of-80) on attempts inside the three-point arc. 

"I'm really excited to play basketball for Rio Grande and looking forward to the upcoming season," Barnes said. "I'm also looking forward to playing with the girls and getting to know them." 

Barnes cited her reasons for choosing Rio Grande as a college home. "The deciding factors that made me choose Rio Grande were the smaller-sized classes and the great athletic program," she said. "Also, a friend is playing basketball at Rio Grande."

Rio Grande head coach David Smalley is pleased to bring Barnes into the program. "We're excited to have Megan Barnes coming into our program. We believe that with a year or so at the junior varsity level, she'll be able to have the opportunity to elevate her skills and give us future help at the varsity level," he said. "She has a good work ethic, she's a good, solid student in the classroom and we're excited to have her in the program."

"We look forward to good and positive things from Megan in the future," he added.

Barnes is setting her course of study in the direction of pharmacy. "I'll be doing undergraduate work to become a pharmacist," she said. 

Barnes talked about her best asset as a player and also what she feels she needs to improve on. "I feel that my best asset as a player is my shooting ability," she said. "I need to work on my ball-handling."

Barnes' only knowledge of Rio Grande prior to signing was that of the women's basketball team. "I knew that Rio Grande had a good girls' basketball program," she said. 

She has set forth some very simple and achievable goals for her playing career at Rio Grande. "My ultimate goal is to become an asset to the team and improve all of my basketball skills," Barnes said. 

Megan is the daughter of Dale and Laura Barnes of Hillsboro, Ohio. 

Barnes joins Kasey Turley of Reedsville Eastern High School, Ironton High School's Janie Morris, Brooke Shaw from Waynesfield-Goshen High School, Kate Hammond of Greenfield McClain High School and Chelsea Delong of Coal Grove as the current members of the 2010-11 recruiting class. 

Rio Grande finished the 2009-10 campaign with a 16-15 overall record and went 7-7 in the Mid-South Conference.