Australian guard seventh signee for Razorbacks

FAYETTEVILLE – Melbourne, Australia’s Cara Angel makes University of Arkansas history this week as the seventh signee for the Lady Razorback women’s basketball team. The first Australian to sign with the Lady’Backs, the 5-10 guard also gives Arkansas head coach Tom Collen the largest signing class in school history. “Cara is a tremendous athlete that should help us immediately at all three perimeter positions, but she prefers to play at the point,” Collen said. “She has a vast amount of maturity and a tremendous resume of high-level participation in the Australian national system.” The 20-year-old transfers to Arkansas from Swinburne University of Technology in Hawthorn, where she has studied for the past two years on a Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship. She plans on majoring in computer science at Arkansas. “She is an excellent student,” Collen said. “We expect her to arrive in Fayetteville this August with 48 hours of college work already completed.”Angel’s most recent teams include participating in the gold medal winning team from Victoria at the 2007 U20 Australian Nationals. She was a double-digit scorer as a member of the Australian U19 team at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in 2004. “We are very excited to have our first Australian player,” Collen said. “We watched Cara play in the 20-and-under national tournament as the starting off-guard.” A native of Melbourne, she graduated from Penleigh Essendon in East Keilor where she was a standout in basketball and track. Angel was one of the top players in her age-group throughout her career, including all-Australian honors from 2003 to 2006. Angel also played for the Bulleen Melbourne Boomers, and was considered by AussieBasketball.com as one of the 12 best in her age-group year in the best women’s basketball nations on the world stage. The 5-10 guard also was a national caliber track athlete, posting the Victoria state best time in the 400 meters in the U16 and U18 divisions. She advanced to become the Australian National Junior runner-up in the 400 meters and third in the country in the 800m in 2002. She joins Michigan’s Quistelle Williams as the first two spring signees for Arkansas. The two spring signees take the Arkansas Class of 2008 to seven players, one more than the previous largest signing class at Arkansas. Arkansas’ fall signees were Ashley Daniels, a 6-2 forward from Coldwater, Miss.; Julie Inman, a 5-9 guard from Carlisle, Ark.; Lyndsay Harris, a 5-9 guard from Hoover, Ala.; Ceira Ricketts, a 5-9 point guard from Louisville, Ky.; and Jamesha Townsend, a 6-2 forward from Chula Vista, Calif. Angel is only the third international player for Arkansas in women’s basketball. The Lady’Backs played a foreign tour in Australia after the close of the 1999 season.