WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The William and Mary women's basketball team added its fourth student-athlete to its 2015 incoming class. Head coach Ed Swanson announced that Ali Engelhardt inked her National Letter of Intent and will join the team for the 2015-16 season.
“Ali is an important piece to the puzzle,” Swanson said. “She fits in all facets: academically, athletically, and socially. She's is going to have the opportunity to play the stretch four for us, where she can excel in shooting the three, and driving to hoop. Ali adds a lot of versatility to the team, and is a welcome addition that our fans will love to see on the floor.”
Engelhardt joins the Tribe after a four-year playing career Mt. Carmel High School in California. As a senior she averaged 27.2 points per game, 11.2 rebounds, and shot 86-percent from the free throw line. For her efforts, she was named the Palomar League Player of the Year and was a 10-time winner of the California Stat Star of the Week Award. She holds her high school's all-time record in scoring, rebounding, and helped her team to the best record in school history (30-4). She helped guide Mt. Carmel to the 2012 and 2015 Palomar League Championship.
As a junior, she was named to the First-Team All-State, Second-Team All-State Division Two, First-Team All-City San Diego, and First-Team All-League. Englehardt was also named Second-Team All-State and All-City, First Team All-League and Palomar Player of the Year.
Engelhardt played her AAU basketball for a pair of organizations as member of both the San Diego Sol (2013), Wiggins Wave (2014). She is a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and volunteers at the San Diego Food Bank. In her free time, she enjoys going to the beach, shopping and hanging with friends.
The San Diego, California native joins an already impressive signing class of Bianca Boggs, Misha Jones, and Chandler Smith.
The women's basketball program enjoyed a seven-game turnaround, and won 15-games in the 2014-15 season. The Tribe also appeared in its first-ever postseason tournament, making an appearance in the Women's Basketball Invitational.
