SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Dannielle Smith, a 6-foot post player from Brown Mackie College in Salina, Kansas, recently signed a letter of intent with the NCAA Division II Slippery Rock University women's basketball program.

She is the first recruit to sign with first-year Rock head coach Tanya Bauer, who was hired in May after serving nine seasons as an NCAA Division II assistant coach.

“Dannielle is long, runs well and does a great job of finishing around the hoop," Bauer said. "She has the potential to provide us with an athletic presence on the inside.”

The Rock got a "good one," in the words of Brown Mackie head coach Troy Thrasher.

“Dannielle is a very athletic player and a solid post player,” Thrasher said. “From 15 feet in, she is a consistent scorer but she is more of a rebound/put-back post player than a scorer. She is very good at drawing the defense in around her and then kicking the ball back out to an open teammate for a jump shot.”

Smith averaged 13 points and eight rebounds per game last winter as a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II Brown Mackie squad that earned votes in the final national poll of the 2009-10 season.

“A couple of players we were counting on coming back decided not to, so we wound up having only seven players and Dannielle was asked to step up and be more of a leader on the floor than she would otherwise have been,” Thrasher said. “She did an excellent job in that role.

“Dannielle also really turned things around academically last year,” he added, “and finished with a solid grade point average.”

Smith, who hails from LaGrange, Ga. and is a graduate of Troup High School, will be a junior at SRU in 2010-11 and will have two seasons of athletic eligibility remaining.

Smith is scheduled to make her first appearance in the Green and White on Nov. 2, when The Rock will play an exhibition game at Division I Cleveland State. The official 2010-11 season opener is Nov. 15, when SRU will hosts Tiffin (Ohio) University in a 7 p.m. game in Morrow Field House.

The Rock returns two starters from its 2009-10 team.