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By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Simon Kenton junior guard Ally Niece, one of the top girls’ high school basketball players in Kentucky, has accepted a scholarship offer from Northern Kentucky University.
Niece, 17, said she went to the NKU team’s home game on Sunday and met with first-year head coach Camryn Whitaker after it was over to make the commitment. This is Whitaker’s first season at NKU, but Niece was one of her recruiting contacts while she was an assistant coach at Kentucky and Dayton.
“I’ve known her since I was in seventh grade,” Niece said. “She was at Dayton when I first started talking to her and then she went to UK and now she’s at NKU. I like her attitude and I’ve know her for so long that I have somewhat of a trust in her.”
Niece has been actively recruited by college teams since last season when she averaged 20.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and five assists per game for the Pioneers and surpassed the 2,000 mark in career scoring.
The 5-foot-8 point guard was named first-team all-state and voted one of the top 10 players in Kentucky in a statewide coaches poll. Her other honors included 8th Region Player of the Year and Division I Player of the Year in Northern Kentucky.
Niece said she also received scholarship offers from Xavier, Princeton and Morehead State. Several other major college teams were showing an interest in her before she made the commitment with NKU.
“I really wanted to stay close to home,” she said. “I have three younger siblings and I’m really close to my family so I wanted stay close to them.”
Niece is in her third season as Simon Kenton’s starting point guard, but she said NKU didn’t recruit her for a specific position. “I’ve always played point guard, but it really doesn’t matter. I’ll play wherever the team needs me,” she said.
The Norse are in their fifth season of NCAA Division I competition. They currently have a 7-15 record overall and 3-7 mark against Horizon League opponents. There are no players from Kentucky on the current NKU roster.
“We should be getting pretty good,” Niece said of the NKU team. “(Whitaker) has a lot of other commits that are coming in too, none of them I know personally, but we’re supposed to be changing what NKU is about.”