JUCO player gives verbal commitment to Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team

It looks like the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team will have an international flavor next season.

Jessica Bygate, a New Zealand native who is a freshman a Moberly (Mo.) Area Community College, gave Southeast a verbal commitment this week.

Bygate, a 6-foot-1 forward/center, said she plans to make it official with Southeast during the spring signing period that begins in April.

"I'm excited," said Bygate, who will have three years of eligibility with the Redhawks. "I visited last week and it was pretty cool. Everybody on the team was great."

Bygate is averaging nearly 11 points and 6 rebounds while shooting better than 51 percent from the field for a Moberly squad that is 12-8.

Bygate, Moberly's No. 2 rebounder and No. 3 scorer, also has 29 steals and eight blocks.

"I like to run the floor, look to attack off the dribble, drive to the hoop," said Bygate when asked to describe some of her strengths.

Moberly coach Chad Killinger said he expects Bygate to fit in well at Southeast.

"If she continues to work as hard as she does for us on a daily basis, she can be a solid contributor in the OVC," Killinger said. "She made a huge commitment in coming to the United States, and I'm glad it is paying off for her."

The Redhawks will have quite a catch if Bygate comes close to matching the performance of Southeast's last junior college transfer from New Zealand

Forward Natalie Purcell was the second-leading scorer, averaging 11.7 points per game, on the 2005-06 Southeast squad. That team won the program's first Ohio Valley Conference regular-season and tournament titles and made the program's first NCAA Division I tournament appearance, although those accomplishments later were stripped for NCAA rules violations.

Purcell played for her native country in the 2008 Olympics.

"I don't know her personally, but I know about her," Bygate said.

Southeast coach Ty Margenthaler is prohibited by NCAA regulations from commenting on Bygate until she signs her letter of intent.

Bygate will be the fifth member of Southeast's recruiting class for next season, joining four high school seniors who signed in November during the NCAA's early signing period. The early signees are Jackson's Connor King, a 6-2 forward/center, and 5-8 combo guard Dru Haertling, along with 5-10 combo guard Olivia Hackman from Jefferson City, Mo., and 5-11 guard Kara Wright from Louisville, Ky.