Siddens To Join Lady Braves For 2008-09 Season

PEMBROKE – UNCP women’s basketball head coach John Haskins announced the second of a handful of expected spring signees Monday afternoon as Illinois junior college standout Casey Siddens declared her intentions to continue her playing career with the Lady Braves.

Siddens (Rochester, Ill./Kankakee CC), a 5-4 guard, makes the trek to Pembroke after a stellar career in the junior college ranks that included a regional most valuable player award, as well as plenty of highlights from beyond the 3-point arc.

“We’re really excited to have Casey become a member of our basketball program,” Haskins said. “She is an outstanding shooter and a hard-nosed player that understands the game very well. She is also a great competitor that is going to work hard every day. I think she will make an immediate contribution to our program.”

Siddens averaged 13.5 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.3 steals per game over the last two seasons in helping to pace Kankakee to a cumulative 57-10 record and two-straight national runner-up finishes. Along the way, she posted more than 440 points on the strength of 146 treys (73 each season), while also averaging better than 37 percent from beyond the arc and 38.8 percent from the field. In the 2008 regional finals, she threw down 30 points against South Suburban in taking home regional MVP accolades.

Siddens shattered a school record by draining 88 3-point shots as a senior at Rochester High School and captained the Rockets to a 26-7 record, as well as their second-straight county, region, sectional and conference titles. En route to the team superlatives, she collected a pair of all-tournament nods herself while also earning her second consecutive all-conference laurels at season’s end.

The daughter of Karen and Brad Siddens has an older brother, Chase, and a twin sister, Shelby. She is expecting to major in Exercise and Sports Science at UNCP.