Nov. 15, 2001

NEW ORLEANS, La. - - The Tulane women's basketball team has signed D'Aundra Henry to a National-Letter-of-Intent, Green Wave head coach Lisa Stockton announced Thursday.

Henry, a 5-7 guard from Houma, La., is currently a senior at Ellender High School where she has been a three-year starter. A three-time All-Region selection, Henry was the Regional Player of the Year and the District 9 Defensive MVP as a junior. She averaged 15.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, 4.2 steals and 2.3 assists this past season and was named Ellender's Offensive Player of the Year.

"We're extremely excited to have D'Aundra join our women's basketball program," Stockton said. "I think she is a very underrated player at the national level. She is a tremendous all-around player who can contribute right away for us. She is an outstanding defensive player with a great ability to score and I am very glad we are able to keep her close to home."

As a sophomore, Henry averaged 13.0 points, 2.3 assists and 3.0 steals per game. She was selected as the Most Valuable Player at the 4A state tournament. She contributed 11.8 points and 2.8 steals per game as a freshman.

Henry's signing continues a trend in which the Green Wave have annually signed the best players in the state of Louisiana. All three of Tulane's signees last season, Kinya Lennix (LaPlace), Lakethia Hampton (New Orleans) and Shelly Cayette (St. James) are from Louisiana as are junior Gwen Slaughter (Mamou) and seniors Salome Hector (Slidell) and Sarah Goree (Baton Rouge).

"It is nice to be able to recruit national-caliber players close to home," Stockton added. "A lot of the success that we have achieved in the last seven years has been due to in-state players. Louisiana produces some of the top women's basketball players in the country and you can see that by looking at our roster each season."

Tulane begins the 2001-02 season on Friday, as the Green Wave play host to High Point. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Fogelman Arena. The game is part of a double-header with the Tulane men's team, who will meet cross-town rival Loyola at approximately 8 p.m.