Rio Grande --- The University of Rio Grande women's basketball program ventured into Lawrence County for the third time during this recruiting season to land a player. This time the stop was South Point and the recruit was Tinesha Taylor.

Taylor, a 5-9 post player, is very talented and brings loads of athleticism to the court.

She was pleased to have her college choice behind her. "It feels great to be going to school," said Taylor. 

Taylor said she had talked to some friends about Rio Grande and they were a huge help in making her decision to sign with the RedStorm. "Talking to (fellow recruit) Janie Morris (from Ironton) and just thinking about it, it helped," she said. "I knew that my friend (the late) Corey Taylor went there and he said that he liked it a lot." 

She described her best assets as a player and also mentioned the area that she feels she needs to improve on as she enters the college game. "I work hard at everything that I do, but I need to work on my handling the ball," she said. 

Rio Grande head coach David Smalley is pleased to be able to bring Taylor into the fold. "We're extremely excited to have Tinesha in the program," he said. "Tinesha comes from a very solid program down at South Point."

"She's a solid athlete, maybe one of the most athletic players that we've had the opportunity to sign in recent years," Smalley added. "She's long, left-handed, runs the floor well and is a great slasher. Once she improves going to her right, I think she's going to be a dynamic player for us in our system."

Taylor has set forth very simple goals for her time at Rio Grande. "To get better every day and bring wins to Rio," she said.

Smalley talked about where Taylor will fit into the program. "We're going to red-shirt Tinesha the first year, she'll get a solid understanding of how our program works in the basketball world and it will give her a good, solid year to get comfortable in the classroom," Smalley said. "Then a year from now, I anticipate Tinesha having a golden opportunity to break in and get some quality playing time at the varsity level."

"She's a tremendous athlete and we're excited to have her on board at the University of Rio Grande for women's basketball," Smalley added.

Tinesha is the daughter of Jerry and Jeanetta Taylor of South Point, Ohio. She plans to pursue a degree in Physical Therapy.

Taylor joins Hailee Swain of South Gallia High School, Megan Barnes of Hillsboro High School, 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.