LAS CRUCES – Crystal Boyd, a transfer from the University of Texas, has signed a Financial Aid Agreement with New Mexico State University to attend school and play basketball for the Aggies beginning next season, head coach Darin Spence announced Monday. Boyd will have to sit out the 2008-09 season due to NCAA transfer regulations and she will have one year of eligibility available for the 2009-10 season.
Boyd, a 5-11 shooting guard, was one of the highest rated recruits coming out of high school in 2005 as she was ranked as the No. 16 recruit nationally by the All-Star Girls Report. She spent three seasons with the Longhorns where she averaged 2.7 points and 1.5 rebounds in 51 games.
Spence said that Boyd is a good kid and a good person to add to his program.
“This is truly good news,” Spence said. “She is everything we’re looking for in a player. She will step right in and help us compete in practice next year and then the following year she will help us tremendously when she can play.
“She is very talented, has great potential and can help us get to a higher level, which we have been after ever since I came here.”
Last season with the Longhorns Boyd appeared in 25 games, averaging 8.7 minutes per game and 2.8 points. In the 2006-07 season she received a NCAA medical redshirt waiver after breaking her right. As a true freshman, Boyd appeared in 26 games for UT, averaging 2.6 points and 1.5 rebounds.
Boyd won three state championships for Parkview Arts and Sciences Magnet High School in Little Rock, Ark. She was named the state tournament MVP three times, was named to the all-state team three times, was the 2005 Arkansas Gatorade Player of the Year and was an All-American as a senior. She played in the 2005 McDonald's All-America Game and was a McDonald’s All-American.
She is the seventh new addition that Spence has brought in for his 2008-09 squad, as he had to replace the departures of five seniors from last years team that went 23-9 and advanced to the WAC Tournament championship game for the third straight season.
Courtesy: New Mexico State University
