Women's Basketball Signs Junior College Standout Pair

May 18, 2005

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – First-year head coach Katie Meier announced today the signing of Renee Taylor and Carla Williams to National Letters of Intent to play basketball at the University of Miami beginning next season.

Taylor heads to Miami after a two-year stay at Monroe Community College in New York and Williams will join the Hurricanes at the end of a standout career at Broward Community College.

Taylor, a 5-foot-2 All-America point guard originally from Harlem, is considered one of the top players in the country after leading the NJCAA Division II in scoring with 30.1 points per game. Last season, she also finished third nationally with nine assists per game while leading MCC to their second-straight national championship and garnered First Team All-Western New York Athletic Conference honors.

Williams, a 6-foot-4 center from Prospect, Jamaica, earned NJCAA All-Region VIII First Team accolades after leading BCC with 19.4 points, 14.0 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game. Williams also led the Seahawks to FCCAA Southern Conference Championship and was named to the FCCAA All-Tournament Team.

Taylor and Williams become the first two players to sign under Meier who was named the seventh head coach in UM history just five weeks ago.

“We are extremely excited about the possibilities of what Renee and Carla can bring to Miami,” said Meier. “We are fortunate to have signed two players of this caliber late in the game and I think the fact that we were able to attract two nationally touted players speaks volumes about this university and this program.”

The two signees join LaToya Cunningham, a 5-foot-6 guard from La Jolla Country Day in La Jolla, Calif., and Brittany Denson, a 6-foot-3 center out of Winter Haven High School in Winter Haven, Fla., who signed National Letters of Intent to play at UM in November during the early signing period.