The U women’s basketball team announced Monday that Sasha McKinnon, a 5-foot-11-inch guard from Langley, British Columbia, will be joining the Utes for next year’s basketball season.
McKinnon will be another in what is developing into a long line of Canadians that U head coach Elaine Elliott has successfully recruited in the last four years. This season’s roster consisted of five Canadian natives-the addition of McKinnon makes it six.
McKinnon comes to the U a highly decorated high school player. She was named the B.C. High School Player of the Year after her senior campaign at Brookswood High School and is currently an active member of the Canadian Junior National Team. McKinnon will participate with the junior national team this summer at the Junior World Championships.
During her senior year, McKinnon led her high school team to a perfect 37-0 record en route to a Provincial Championship. McKinnon averaged 13.8 points and 3.9 rebounds while shooting 54 percent from the field during her team’s remarkable season last year. She was named the Fraser Valley MVP in 2005 and took home first-team all-star honors at the AAA Provincial Tournament in 2005.
Elliott, who began recruiting Canadians about four years ago, said McKinnon is a perfect fit for her system. She said McKinnon’s desire to be a Ute, combined with the program’s need for young talent, will be a “great combination.”
McKinnon is the fourth incoming player to commit to the U women’s basketball team, though she is the only Canadian from this year’s group. The other three that have already committed to the U are Joh-Teena Filipe from Skyline High School, Morgan Warburton from Carbon High School and Lydia Whitehead from Mountain Crest (Hyrum) High School.