Published: April 26, 2007 02:42 pm            

Pace already making a big-time impact

RICHMOND — Eastern Kentucky University women’s basketball team is already reaping the rewards of hiring assistant coach Lisa Pace.

The newest addition to the coaching staff lost no time in finding two junior college players to sign, stealing LaTanya Stokes and LaTonyah Bentley away from Penn State.

“It was really important to us (to sign at the same college). We wanted it really bad,” Stokes said. “And it’s one of those things that coach (Katie Vaske) kept stressing how there’s not too many schools that are going to want to take two (junior college) players after we leave here.”

“But, Penn State was one of the colleges that was willing to take us so for a minute we were real close to signing with Penn State. But, coach Pace was a good recruiter.”

Stokes, from Milwaukee, WI, and Bentley, from Detroit, MI, were both raised by their grandparents, lost their mothers and saw abuse and drugs.

Writing poetry, rap music and playing basketball have been their outlets with their grandparents as their support.

“Coming to Moberly Area Community College, I never thought I’d find somebody that was so much like me and from a totally different state, a totally different city,” Stokes said. “Our parents didn’t raise us. Our grandmothers raised us. Our grandmothers are our hearts. ... Because of our grandmothers, that’s the reason whey we work so hard and go for our dreams.”

Both refused to let the pain of their past hold them back as Stokes said they were determined to earn a full scholarship to college.

And the best friends wanted to do it together.

Early on it appeared PSU was the only option. And both were close to signing with the Lady Nittany Lions.

“I was just really getting ready to make a big mistake,” Stokes said of signing with Penn State. “I thank coach Pace for talking to my grandmother. And most of all I thank my grandma for talking me into the right decision. I always, always trust her judgment.”

Her grandmother’s instinct is something Stokes has always relied on and when Pace hit the recruiting trail she left no stone unturned in bringing Bentley and Stokes to Richmond.

So the basketball players closed the door to PSU last week and signed national letters of intent with the Lady Colonels.

“(My grandmother) kept saying, ‘I’ll go with whatever school feels good for you. Whatever school is good for you.’ But, I know in her heart, even though I was talking about signing with Penn State, in her heart I felt she wanted me to go to EKU. All she kept talking about is she liked the coach. So, even though she didn’t tell me to go, I knew because of her a huge part of her is why I’m going to EKU.”

Stokes, a 5-foot-10 guard, averaged 12.3 points per game and nine rebounds a game last year for MACC.

Her favorite shot is a 15-footer, as she likes to get in the lane and create. Her height helps her as she attacks the offensive boards against smaller guards.

In the maroon and white, Stokes wants to continue to mix things up.

“I plan on crashing the boards a lot, get a lot of offensive boards, get to the hole and stay in the paint,” Stokes said. “I plan on helping the team with it’s hustle defense. I love to hustle. I love to dive on the floor for loose balls.”

Bentley, a 6-foot-2 forward, averaged 11.4 points per game with five rebounds per game last year and shot a team second-best 45 percent from the field.

Pace was a four-year letter-winner for the Lady Colonels, helping the team to it’s first-ever NCAA Tournament in 1997 after capturing the title at the OVC Championships. After spending the last seven years at Southeast Missouri State, she rejoined EKU earlier this month.

        

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