Sports

Chapel’s Whitney Lee to play at UA-Fort Smith

By Jeremy Muck/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Tuesday, April 22, 2008 9:33 AM CDT

Watson Chapel center Whitney Lee will take her game from the 6A-South Conference to one of the top junior colleges in the South.

Whitney Lee has signed to play college basketball at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith. The former Lady Wildcat chose UA-Fort Smith over Ouachita Baptist.

UA-Fort Smith’s athletic program allows players to play for two years. But the university will become a four-year school in 2009. On the court, UA-Fort Smith head coach Louis Whorton will reap the benefits from a player who was named to The Commercial’s first team earlier this month. UA-Fort Smith became interested in the former Watson Chapel star in December when the Lady Wildcats played in a tournament in Fayetteville.

“He (Whorton) thinks that I’m a good player and he said when he’s done with me, I’ll be a great player,” Whitney Lee said on Monday. “He’s a sweet little man with a big heart.”

The 6-0 Lee will have a few inches on the 5-6 Whorton. But the two-time All-State center at Watson Chapel has an opportunity to make an impact right away at UA-Fort Smith, who went to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) semifinals last season.

“She was very consistent,” Watson Chapel head coach Leslie Byrd said. “She kept working hard. She improved so much from her sophomore to her senior season. Her work ethic was outstanding.”

Byrd, who recently completed her 16th season at Watson Chapel, has sent players to several colleges, including Texas-San Antonio, Missouri-Kansas City, Lyon College, and Stephen F. Austin. Former Lady Wildcat Shadae Martin went to UA-Fort Smith and transferred to UAPB, where she recently completed her college career last month.

Watson Chapel won the Class 6A state championship last season and Whitney Lee helped clinch the school’s first state championship with the game-winning bucket with 3.2 seconds remaining against West Memphis in Hot Springs. The Lady Wildcats won 24 games last season, winning the 6A-South Conference championship with a 13-1 record.

Whitney Lee and her twin sister Brittney will be together at UA-Fort Smith. But while Whitney Lee will be playing basketball on the collegiate level, Brittney will attend nursing school. Whitney Lee visited UA-Fort Smith and Ouachita Baptist during Watson Chapel’s spring break last month and said that the environment in the northwest Arkansas city was what led her to sign with Whorton’s program.

At UA-Fort Smith, Whitney Lee plans on studying business. She said Monday that her three years at Watson Chapel have been the “best three years of my life.” Whitney and Brittney Lee transferred to Watson Chapel from the Pine Bluff School District before their sophomore year in 2005-2006.

Barring injury, Whitney Lee may get the chance to play at a Division I school after her career at UA-Fort Smith is over. But for now, she isn’t thinking about that too much.

“I could see myself at a D-I school,” Whitney Lee said. “But I’d like to take one step at a time and see what happens.”

Whitney Lee added that Byrd told her to “go where you’re comfortable and to have fun.”

If recent history is any indication, then Whitney Lee should be able to have fun on and off the court at UA-Fort Smith.

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