LAS CRUCES – Future New Mexico State women’s basketball players Taylor Altenburg, Kaitlyn Soto and Tabytha Wampler have rounded out their high school careers and have all received honors for their performances in their senior seasons.
Head coach Darin Spence believes that these three players will come into his program and add onto the puzzle that returns from last year’s squad that won the third most games in school history.
“We knew first of all that they are the type of people we want to bring into our program because they all are good students and good people with quality family backgrounds,” Spence said. “They are very driven players and the three of them went out and had good senior seasons. They all have good basketball skills and we feel that they will add a lot to our program.”
Altenburg, a guard from Elko High School in Elko, Nev., received several accolades for her senior season where she averaged 19.9 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. She was selected to the 4A Northern Nevada All-Region First Team, 4A Northern Nevada High Desert All-League First Team and was the 2008 Most Valuable Player of the Elko Daily Free Press.
She was a McDonalds All-American and Gatorade All-American nominee and was named a 2008 Top Wing Prospect by the Intermountain Hoops Scouting Service. Altenburg, who is on the National Honor Society with her 3.8 grade point average, rounded out her career by setting the Elko High School record for most points and rebounds in her career.
Wampler, a 6-1 forward from Cottonwood, Calif., was named the Most Valuable Player of the Eastern Athletic League. She averaged 16 points and nine rebounds as a senior for West Valley High School. Wampler led the Eagles to an 18-7 record and a perfect 10-0 league mark.
Soto helped lead the Mater Dei High School Monarchs of Santa Ana, Calif. to the 2007-08 Trinity League Co-Championship. The point guard averaged 10 points, seven assists and three steals per game her senior season. Soto, who was a first team all-league performer as a junior, will soon be named to her second straight all-league team at the teams upcoming banquet next week.
She was the Most Valuable Player of the 2007 Plyocity/Kiwanis Roundball Extravaganza. Soto was named to three other all-tournament teams for her play this past season, which include the 2007 West Coast Jamboree, the 2007 Ocean View Varsity Christmas Classic and the Mater Dei Hoops Classic.
All three of the players will be coming to Las Cruces to join the team and participate in summer school. This was a process that worked out well for NMSU last summer, as the team really worked out hard to get into shape and built the chemistry that carried the Aggies to their third-straight WAC Tournament title game.
Courtesy: Tim Barnett-Queen
