Payne signs intent with Davenport

By MICKEY ALVARADOStandout Clinton High School student-athlete Hannah Jo Payne put pen to paper on Tuesday afternoon and signed a National Letter of Intent to attend Davenport University.Davenport recruited Payne for its basketball team and head coach Mark Youngs believes she’ll fit right in with the university’s aggressive style of play.“Athletically, she’s very versatile at what she can do,” said Youngs. “We play a lot of kids and we really run, she just kind of fits that mold. She’s such a good athlete.”The Panthers just finished their best girls basketball season in the university’s history (37-1) after losing just one game — the NAIA National Championship — 88-83 to Northwestern College (Iowa). Davenport, a Division 2 university, has won four straight WHAC (Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference) Championships.The Panthers just graduated two First Team All-American players and an honorable mention All-American so Youngs is optimistic that Payne can earn playing time as a freshman.“We have a lot of minutes to fill,” he said. “We do have seven of our top 10 back but lose our top three scorers.”Youngs led his team to a 99-7 record over the last three years and considers his team one of the premier NAIA programs in the country.“We’ve been No. 1 more than any other team since the year 2000,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of success and I don’t see that changing any time soon.”Payne is a unique player, according to her varsity basketball coach at Clinton, Bart Bartels, who said she’d be hard to replace after graduating.“What stands out in my mind is Hannah is one of the most dedicated, hard-working players that I’ve ever been around,” said Bartels. “What you see in the games is what you see in practice. She’s really worked hard in getting a basketball scholarship and I’m so happy to see her achieve her goal.”Payne will also be dual sport athlete at Davenport University. She was a sprinter at Clinton High School and a record setting long jumper. She set the school record of 16’10” last year as a junior after tying her sister Dianna for the record (16’ 7-1/2”) as a freshman.She fell in love with Davenport University when visiting its campus and said being a smaller school she’ll get a lot of help from her professors while studying to be a plastic surgeon. Her major studies will be in health while she’ll minor in Spanish.She also, for a quick moment, thought about attending Cornerstone University but that was before visiting the Panthers’ facilities.“I fell in love with their campus,” she said. “No other schools were good enough for me after I saw Davenport.”Payne was named County Player of the Year as a junior and was a unanimous first team Tri-County Conference selection her junior and senior year. Last year, she was invited to the Michigan Elite as one of the top 100 female players in the state. The Detroit Free Press also named her one of the top 100 female players for 2011.“The Accolades just keep on coming,” said Bartels. “She just made the B-Camp All-Star game, which will be in August and I suspect that she will be making some more all-star teams.” Bartels thinks she’ll make the All-State team for the Detroit Free Press. She was just invited to play in the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan’s 32nd Annual All-Star Festival at The Palace of Auburn Hills on Saturday, Aug. 6.“She’s a special player,” said Bartels.

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