MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — One of the most highly-recruited local girls’ basketball players in a while, Morgantown High’s Kaitlyn Ammons made her college choice Friday, and she’s headed to the Windy City.
Ammons, a 6-foot-3 forward, committed to DePaul, one of the top women’s basketball programs in the Big East, coming off a 28-5 regular season before the season was prematurely ended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From the start, DePaul, on the north side of Chicago, felt like home to the point Ammons didn’t want to go back to Morgantown when she took visits.
“I fell in love with Chicago and DePaul’s campus,” Ammons said. “It felt like home on my visit and I didn’t want to leave. The coaching staff is unmatched and the program not only is a top 20 team every year. but I fit into Coach Bruno’s playing style, as well.
“I knew in my heart DePaul was where I should be since I visited last fall.”
Ammons, who just finished her junior season with the Mohigans, fielded many Division I offers, including Youngstown State, Campbell, Radford, Duquesne, Marshall, Robert Morris, Towson, Delaware, St Joseph’s, St. John’s, Murray State and Boston College.
Other schools showed interest late, but Ammons’ mind was already made up.
Ammons, a second team all-state selection, averaged over 16 points per game this season and helped lead a major turnaround for MHS where the won 12 of 18 to end the year, including an upset over No. 1 Wheeling Park in regional co-final to advance to the state tournament.
“My MHS team obviously made me a better player, but the bigger impact was that it forced me to step up into a challenge from the start and eventually be a leader earlier than most kids would have to be due to us not having seniors this past season,” Ammons said.
Her work with the Philly Belles, an AAU team in Philadelphia, helped Ammons earn a tryout with the Team USA U16 squad, one of 115 applicants to get to that point.
“AAU helped me understand where I was compared to other girls abilities and athleticism in my class by exposing me to the best of the best every tournament, so now I’m able to train more specifically/ efficiently,” she said. “My AAU team is a lot like playing for a college program by the way they want us to present ourselves and the level we are expected to play at every day, so the transition to college will be at least somewhat familiar.”
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