UNC Pembroke Inks Hendrix to Women's Basketball NLI

PEMBROKE - UNCP women's basketball head coach John Haskins announced the first of an expected handful of spring signees Thursday afternoon as California junior college standout Ari Hendrix inked her name on a national letter of intent to continue her playing career with the Lady Braves.

Hendrix comes to Pembroke following a pair of outstanding seasons at Santa Barbara (Calif.) City College in which she helped lead the Lady Vaqueros to a cumulative 40-22 record while earning a pair of all-conference laurels. She is expected to make an immediate impact in Pembroke.

"Ari is an excellent ball handler and can penetrate," Haskins said. "She is very good in transition and sees the floor well. In addition to her basketball abilities, she is an outstanding young woman and we are very fortunate to have her join our program."

A two-year starter for SBCC, Hendrix averaged 16.9 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 3.7 steals per game in leading the Lady Vaqueros to a 17-14 record as a sophomore last season en route to capturing her second consecutive all-Western State Conference accolades as well as third team all-state honors. On the season, she shot better than 75 percent from the free throw line, while nearly reaching the 500-point plateau (491).

Hendrix took home all-league honors as a freshman as well following a season in which she was a main cog in SBCC's run to a 23-8 clip.

A standout prep star as well, Hendrix earned first team all-league honors as a senior for Ventura High School and helped lead VHS to playoff appearances in each of her last two seasons. The Lady Cougars secured a spot in the semifinals of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) tournament in 2004-05, while advancing through to the second round in 2005-06.

The daughter of Sharon Hendrix has an older sister, April, an older brother, Aaron, and a twin sister, Jade. She is expecting to major in Exercise and Sports Science at UNCP. Her mother, Sharon, is a back-up singer for Grammy-award winning artist Tom Jones in Las Vegas.