Hannah Frazier had no thoughts of committing when she left for her official visit to St. Louis.
By the end of the weekend, however, Frazier found a new home.
The Batavia junior forward and The Beacon-News Player of the Year verbally committed to St. Louis during her visit that Sunday.
Frazier, who had nine offers, picked St. Louis over DePaul, Valparaiso and Miami of Ohio.
“I didn’t know I’d be ready to commit,” Frazier said. “But over the course of the visit any questions about the school were answered. I felt this was the one. The distance is great, it’s close to home so my parents can watch me play — it was just a matter of going there and sealing the deal.”
Frazier will have some familiar company at St. Louis.
Head coach Lisa Stone, who just completed her third season at St. Louis after eight at Wisconsin, has already tapped into the Chicago-area talent pool. Former Rolling Meadows standouts Jackie Kemph and Jenny Vliet, and Cary-Grove grad Olivia Jakubicek are currently on the St. Louis roster.
“That was definitely very helpful,” Frazier said. “I got to hang out with the Rolling Meadows girls when I was there, and they are great players. They were just raving about how much they loved the school.”
The Billikens were 15-16 this past season. The 15 wins were their most in 12 years.
A complementary player as a freshman and sophomore to Liza Fruendt, Batavia’s all-time leading scorer, Frazier inherited the alpha role when Fruendt graduated and ran with it.
The 6-foot-2 post averaged 22.1 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.5 blocks, scoring 20 points or more in 11 games and 30 or more six times. In December, Frazier became the fastest to score 1,000 career points in program history, and at 1,371 is just 550 shy of Fruendt’s record. She was named second team All-State by the Associated Press and Illinois Basketball Coaches Association.
St. Louis became the latest of her scholarship offers, and Michigan State also showed interest.
Frazier displayed flashes of the ability to take defenders off the dribble, and has expanded the range on her jumper. In fact, Batavia coach Kevin Jensen said many college coaches he talked to envision her as a stretch four at the next level. A stretch four is a player with the size of a power forward who can play outside or in the corner.
Frazier recognizes she’d be an undersized post at the next level, furthering the need to add to her game.
“She’s had more than she’s shown since her freshman year,” Jensen said. “Ithink she’s going to be shooting more and more jump shots.”
Frazier, No. 1 in her academic class with a 4.37 GPA, is considering engineering and communications as possible majors.
For now, she’s relieved that the recruiting process is over.
“It’s definitely both of those, excited and relieved — it’s a weight off my shoulders,” Frazier said. “It was a hard decision. Now I can focus on AAU and getting ready for next season.”
Welge is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
