The Bobcat Nation

This is exciting for coach Binford!

MSU women's basketball: Bobcats land 6-2 Utah post

By MIKE KIEFER Chronicle Sports Writer

Montana State women's basketball has found more height to complement Tricia Binford's running attack with the signing of Lacie Titmus, a 6-foot-2 post from Orem, Utah.

Titmus played on two championship teams at Mountain View High School, averaging 14 points, 11 rebounds. As a senior, Titmus' Bruins missed out on a third title after the team suffering one of their three losses in the state quarterfinal.

"She comes from a very stellar program," Binford said. "She's very versatile. She can get up and down the floor really well. She can also step out and hit the three."

Binford saw her at the Utah state championship tournament and has a good rapport with Bruins coach Dave Houle from her recruiting days at Utah State University.

"One thing about Lacie is that she is an absolute worker," Binford said. "Her work ethic is great. She already lifts weights, she's on the track running."

While Titmus will solve height problems, Binford is more impressed with stats like Titmus' 80 percent free throw percentage last year.

Titmus also knows how to win, coming from a school Sports Illustrated recently listed as the top high school athletic program in Utah.

Titmus visited Bozeman in the first week of May and said that she felt a connection with new coach and would-be teammates.

"I just loved the city and I liked the coaches and the team a lot," she said.

The team went out of its way to make Titmus feel at home. Scotta Morton even roomed with her at her hotel for some college dorm role-playing.

Binford said she did not need to cultivate the chemistry she looks for between the team and new recruits.

"She fits in super, I mean, it was a no-brainer," Binford said.

Houle encouraged Titmus to consider MSU over Nevada at Las Vegas, and University of California-San Diego.

Bozeman's similarity to Orem would smooth Titmus' transition from high school to college, but Houle's endorsement comes from a place more personal. Houle remembers Bozeman from growing up here. Houle's mother was a Bobcat, and he admits that his heart still resides in Montana.

"She had a wide range of schools after her," Houle said. "But you can't go wrong with Montana."

Titmus was also drawn to Binford as a coach because of her experiences overseas in Australia, where Titmus hopes to play after college.

"She has a lot of connections," Titmus said.

Titmus will be spending summer at home, but will arrive at the beginning of August to start work with MSU's strength and conditioning staff.

Wow, very impressive sounding recruit. Welcome Lacie, it's great to have you as a Bobcat.

Starting to sound like Binford could be an excellent recruiter with what she is getting on short notice. It will be interesting to see what she can do next year with a full year of recruiting time.

She's been here for a couple of months and she's already tapping the Bobcat connections out of state! Pretty sharp.

"She had a wide range of schools after her," Houle said. "But you can't go wrong with Montana."

I certainly AGREE with this statement. Coach Houle is smart but he'll be in for a rude awakening when he finds out she isn't going to "Montana!"

62GRIZ wrote:

"She had a wide range of schools after her," Houle said. "But you can't go wrong with Montana."

I certainly AGREE with this statement. Coach Houle is smart but he'll be in for a rude awakening when he finds out she isn't going to "Montana!"

Oh yeah ... we forgot to forward you the memo. Congress has granted statehood to a region that we are now to refer to as "Montana," an area that includes the city of Bozeman. People are pretty excited about this development.

So Binford has signed two great recruits since she was hired last month. Today is the last day of the signing period and when I talked to her last week she felt very positive that she would be able to sign two players before the period ends. Hopefully MSU will announce another today or tomorrow. MSU can still sign players to scholarship tender after today, but they will not be Officiall NCAA letters of intent. Once a player signs after the, signing period they are not bound to the school, they can change their mind.
We signed Shannon Bosley, a 6-foot-2 center from Livingston and Anne Phippard, a 5-foot-10 point-guard from Kirkland, Wash. this fall and then Jenny Heringer earlier this month and now Lacie Titmus. If both fall signies are on board that leaves us with three scholarship left to fill. Does anyone know if we are having any defections from; Buckless, Ash, Connolly, DeHaan, Goodman, Scotta, Nelson, and/or Proietti. The Women are allowed 15 scholarships by the NCAA and I really do not think we need to fill all of them if we don'e get the player we want. So I could see Binford holding a scholarship or two open for next year in hopes of getting a better player or two with a full summer of recruiting under her belt.

Early on Binford said that everyone was staying and I've heard no other rumors to the contrary. Buckless and Goodman are friends with Heringer and have stated their desires to play together. Ash may still be sidelined by injury. Binford has mentioned that she would likely leave a couple of slots open in order to get the classes back in better balance as there are no seniors on the team. Four seniors were lost last year so at least those numbers have been restocked. This is starting to sound like a team again.

binford has another tool....cool