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June 25, 2013
For the second-straight week, a Vandebilt Catholic standout basketball player has signed a scholarship to play post-prep ball with a Texas-based school.
One week after Terriers guard Lionheart Leslie signed with Blinn, Lady Terriers post Sade’ Murrell announced that she has inked a National Letter of Intent with East Texas Baptist University – a four-year university in Marshall, Texas.
Murrell signed her paperwork in front of her friends and family, and said she is thrilled to be able to call herself a college basketball player.
“I’m very excited,” Murrell said. “I’m pumped up to do all of the workouts and everything I need to do before I get there. Doing this and being able to sign just makes me feel so accomplished. A lot of people play high school basketball, but very few are blessed enough to have this opportunity to continue to move forward with their goals inside of the sport of basketball.”
Murrell’s ascent to the college level comes after a decorated career at Vandebilt.
The 5-foot, 9-inch Houma native was one of the key contributors on the Lady Terriers’ 2012-13 success, which saw Vandebilt win a district championship and three playoff games.
Murrell was a Second-Team All-District performer for the Lady Terriers – exhibiting an inside-out game that often proved to be a difficult matchup for opponents throughout the district.
She was one of the Lady Terriers’ co-captains in the 2012-13 season, and she was also among the team’s leading scorers and rebounders.
“I really enjoyed my time at Vandebilt,” Murrell said. “Being able to be a part of a program with so much tradition – it really helped to better me as a person and also as a player. I am more ready for this opportunity because of my time at Vandebilt – that’s for sure.”
East Texas Baptist paid close attention to Murrell throughout the course of her senior season.
She said that the school has recruited her closely throughout the duration of her final prep season.
Murrell said she pulled the trigger because she liked the school, the campus and the coaches. She added that she believes she will be a good fit within the program.
East Texas Baptist University is a four-year NCAA university that competes in Division III athletics.
The Lady Tigers finished last season with 13 wins in 22 games. Murrell will play some of her games in Louisiana throughout her career, as the school competes in the same conference as Louisiana College.
“I really think this will be a very good fit for me,” Murrell said. “The coaches there said that they liked my attitude and how I played. They said that they liked how I never gave up on my team and I always showed leadership throughout the game. They really stressed to me that they liked my whole personality in terms of basketball – they liked the way that I play and they also like the way that I respond to things on the floor.”
Even while a good fit, Murrell has a lot of work to do before ever setting foot on the Texas-based campus.
Because last year’s Vandebilt squad was lacking post players, Murrell shifted from a guard position to the post to fill the void.
But at the college level, Murrell said the Lady Tigers will rely on her to be a combination guard – a complete position change from where she played last year.
Murrell said she knows she can make the change and be ready before her freshman season begins – it’ll just take hours of work in the gym this summer to polish her skills as a guard.
“I’m going to really need to work so much harder,” Murrell said. “I’m going to need to work on my dribbling. I’m going to need to work on doing all of the things that guards do.
“Everything that I did when I was in high school, I need to do the same thing, but just 50 times harder with more intensity. I want to make sure that when I get there, I am as ready as I can possibly be to make a good first impression.”
While the position change may seem difficult to some, Murrell also pointed out that she has an advantage because opposing guards will have to defend a player with post moves.
“I’ll be able to still go down there when it’s advantageous for me to do so,” she said. “I think all-in-all, this is making me a better player.”
Murrell said she will head to Texas at the completion of summer when the new school year begins.
She said it will be weird to not call Vandebilt home, but added she can’t wait to get started.
“It’ll be different not playing in front of my friends and family every game – they won’t always be able to see me play,” Murrell said. “But I’m going to work as hard as I can to make the most of this opportunity to make everyone proud.”
Vandebilt Catholic post player Sade’ Murrell makes a move during a game this season. The All-District performer announced this week that she has signed a college scholarship to play basketball at East Texas Baptist University – a four-year university in Marshall, Texas. Murrell signed her scholarship papers this week and said she cannot wait to get started in her new challenge.
