NEW ORLEANS - To build a winning team on the Lakefront, University of New Orleans women's basketball head
coach Amy Champion has brought in players who have familiarity with winning.
On Tuesday morning, Champion announced the signing of guard Rachele Monroe and forward
Ashley Gorsh, who were members of Kirkwood
Community College's NJCAA
Division II national championship team this past season.
This
was the second title as members of Kirkwood
for Monroe and Gorsh, who were part of a 35-1 campaign as freshmen.
"We
are very fortunate to have Ashley and Rachele join our UNO family,” said
Champion. “They both bring a winning attitude and scoring at their respective
positions.”
Monroe comes to UNO after
a season in which she averaged 8.4 points per contest to go along with 2.2
rebounds and 1.7 assists each time on the floor.
The
All-Region XI second-team selection has a knack for making shots from
long-range making 35.1 percent from beyond the arc as a freshman followed by a
33.6 percent season as a sophomore.
The
product of La Porte City, Iowa prepped at Union HS where she was named
the NICL conference player of the year along with first team All-State honors
by the IGCA and a second team All-State selection by the Des Moines Register
and INA.
She
finished her prep career as the second leading scorer in school history,
amassing 1,270 points. In addition to basketball, she was a member of the
volleyball and softball teams while also being a three-time state qualifier for
the track program.
Gorsh,
an All-Region XI third-team selection averaged 3.7 points per game for Kirkwood while making
44.3 percent of her shots from the field to go along with 4.2 rebounds a
contest.
A key
contributor off the bench for Kirkwood
as a freshman, the 6'3” forward averaged 3.7 points and 3.2 rebounds per
contest while shooting 51.5 percent from the field as a freshman.
The Urbana, Iowa product prepped at Center Point HS
where she averaged 14.2 points, 10.2 rebounds and 1.5 steals
while helping CPU to a 14-10 record her senior season. She scored 831
points during her HS career, culminating in an appearance in the IGCA All-Star
Game.
“Ashley
adds depth and size in our post game and Rachele extends our perimeter game with
her deep three-point scoring,” said Champion. "They will be an immediate impact
for our program. Both are great signs for our program."
The
two players also bring an impressive academic resume according to Champion as Monroe will study biology
with a desire to go to med school and Gorsh is an early childhood major.
Ashley Gorsh
