June 10, 2003

Stony Brook, N.Y. - Head women's basketball coach Trish Roberts announced that four players have signed national letters of intent to play for Stony Brook during the 2003-04 season. Mykeema Ford, Inbar Orion, Jessica Smith and Kelly Watson will join an experienced squad of upperclassmen this fall.

Ford, a 5-8 point guard who has spent the past year attending Cheshire Academy, a prep school in Cheshire, Conn., was a two-time All-State selection in New Jersey. She led Trenton High School to both the Group IV State Championship and the New Jersey Tournament of Championships. She was named the Most Valuable Player of both tournaments. Ford was named the New Jersey Athlete of the Year after a senior season in which she averaged 26 points and eight assists. With over 1,800 career points, she is the all-time leading scorer of both Mercer County and Trenton High School. She is also the only female athlete to have her jersey retired at her school.

Jerusalem, Israel, native Inbar Orion is a 6-2 post player who led her high school to three Jerusalem championships. As a senior, Orion averaged 25 points and 19.2 rebounds and led her team to a No. 2 ranking in the country. Orion also played for the APU league, leading her team to the country's cup and third place in the league. Orion was named Jerusalem Athlete of the Year when she was only 14 years old, and as a senior she was invited to play with the women's national team. Her career-highs are 51 points and 21 rebounds.

Smith, a 6-0 forward/center, received All-State First Team honors from the Associated Press after her senior year at Butler High School (N.J.), when she averaged 25.8 points, 14.7 rebounds and 5.1 steals. She received second-team AP honors as a junior. Smith was also named All-State, All-Senior and Morris County Player of the Year by the Star Ledger News after her senior year. Not only that, WGHT Radio named her both Athlete of the Week and Player of the Year. The Bergen Record named her to the All-Area First Team for three straight seasons, while the Morris City Daily Record named her All-Area two years and Player of the Year in 2002-03. A four-time team MVP, she led Butler to the Group I State Championship and was named MVP. She holds school records in career points (2,019), career rebounds (1,014), career steals (497), points in a single season (722) and points in a single game (40).

Watson, a 5-9 guard from Ontario, Canada, averaged 17.4 points, 8.3 rebounds, 7.9 steals and 7.1 assists as a senior for John McGregor High School in Chatham, Ontario. She led the Panthers to four city championships and two regional championships, in addition to third place at the OFSAA Provincial Championship in 2001 and the OFSAA championship in 2002-03. She received two second-team city All-Star nominations and two first-team nominations. The John McGregor Athlete of the Year in 2001, she spent two years playing for the Windsor Athletic Club, which finished in the top eight in Ontario in 2002 and in the top five in 2003.