MU women's basketball inks top 15 class

Strafford's Hayley Frank blocks a shot by California's Gracie George during last season's Class 3 state championship game at JQH Arena in Springfield. Frank signed Wednesday to play for the Missouri Tigers.
Strafford's Hayley Frank blocks a shot by California's Gracie George during last season's Class 3 state championship game at JQH Arena in Springfield. Frank signed Wednesday to play for the Missouri Tigers.

COLUMBIA - Robin Pingeton and her assistants didn't have to leave the state of Missouri on the recruiting trail to sign what ESPN has as the 11th-best recruiting class in the country for 2019, and the third-best in the Southeastern Conference.

Aijha Blackwell of Whitfield (St. Louis), Hayley Frank of Strafford and Micah Linthacum of Jefferson City all signed letters of intent Wednesday to play for the Tigers.

Blackwell and Frank are both five-star players, rated No. 1 and No. 2 in the state, respectively, and both (Blackwell is 6-foot, Frank 6-2) have the height and athleticism to be difference-makers on the perimeter in Missouri's motion offense. Linthacum, a center, will sit and redshirt the 2019 season.

"Words can't describe how excited we are about this recruiting class," Pingeton said in a press release. "They are elite level players and high character individuals who will help us continue to elevate our program. The fact that they are from the state of Missouri makes it even that much more special."

The No. 8 player in the country according to ESPN, Blackwell won a gold medal this summer with the U.S.'s U18 national team at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship in Mexico. The daughter of the late Ernest Blackwell, a running back at Missouri and for the Kansas City Chiefs, Blackwell lit up the scoreboard at Whitfield, averaging 24 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals per game during her junior season, and nine points, four rebounds and three assists per game with the U.S. U18 team.

Strafford, with twins Hayley and Kayley Franks playing and father Steve Franks coaching, has won 82 consecutive games and three straight Class 3 state titles, which included wins against Blackwell's Whitfield team in the finals in 2017 and semifinals in 2018.

The two teams could possibly meet again in this year's state tournament.

Franks was named Missouri's Gatorade Player of the Year in 2018 and the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association Class 3 Player of the Year in 2017 and 2018, and is ESPN's No. 29 player overall. She averaged 25 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, three steals and three blocks per game during her junior season and posted similar numbers as a sophomore.

It's the second time in more than a decade, since ESPN expanded its women's basketball recruiting list from top-10 to top-100 in 2008, that the state of Missouri has produced two top-30 players (Napheesa Collier and Sophie Cunningham in 2015) and before this year, the Tigers and Pingeton had signed two top-100 players in Cunningham and Bri Porter.