The Fort Lewis women’s basketball team continues to grow as new head coach Lauren Davis tries to compete in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in her first year.
Kayde Strauss, Jaila Childress and Eva Kingston were announced as the newest members of the Skyhawks team on Tuesday on the team’s Instagram account.
The new additions join the seven returning players and the two other new signees announced on May 9.
Strauss comes from Western Wyoming Community College where she averaged 13.5 points per game, 3.8 rebounds per game and 2.4 assists per game this past season. The 5-foot, 8-inch guard has two years of eligibility remaining.
Davis recruited Strauss out of high school to go to Davis’ previous school Northwest College. But Strauss chose the Northwest’s rival Western Wyoming Community College.
“She was always somebody who made the top of my scout,” Davis said about Strauss. “She's a really good shooter and a really good guard. Somebody who we always struggled to defend.”
Childress will be a freshman in the fall and is from Las Vegas, Nevada. The 6-foot guard was ineligible to play her senior year after transferring high schools. Davis said she’s very happy to have Childress as she was been looked at by multiple Division I schools.
In her junior season, Childress averaged 13.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg and 2.5 apg playing for Coronado High School in Henderson, Nevada.
“She was going to come play for me at Northwest and I had met her through her dad and her family just out through recruiting and everything like that,” Davis said about Childress. “Jaila, I've known her a long time. She's a really good person. She'll be a really good culture kid because she does all the right things on and off the court. She's raised by great parents and I’m really excited about her.”
Kingston began her career at Colorado Northwestern Community College and played last season at Western Colorado where she averaged 1.7 ppg and 1.2 rpg in 15 games played. The 5-10 guard has one year of eligibility remaining.
“She has a lot of size and will add a different dimension to our guard spot,” Davis said about Kingston. “She can score all three levels, she can shoot, drive and post up smaller guards. She’s obviously familiar with the RMAC but I've been watching her again for a while now just in JUCO.”
Davis is looking forward to an open competition for playing time as she puts her new system into place.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
