This story was originally published Aug. 23, 2010.

Pulaski Southwestern High School girls’ basketball coach Tim Rice said the Lady Toppers’ 2011 recruiting class has potential to be one of the best in the country.

Part of the reason why is that his senior point guard, Danay Fothergill, has made a verbal commitment to sign with Western for the 2011 season.

Rice said Fothergill, who averaged 27 points as a junior last season, committed to play for Head Coach Mary Taylor Cowles last week.

“She went to camp down there this summer and really liked it,” Rice said. “We visited a couple more times and just really liked the coaching staff. We talked about it for a long time and she finally made her decision.”

Rice said nearly 15 Division I schools offered Fothergill a scholarship. Among those were Miami (Ohio), Stetson, North Carolina-Wilmington, North Carolina-Greensboro, James Madison and Liberty.

Aside from leading her team in scoring last season, Fothergill is also the all-time scoring leader in Southwestern High School history among both boys and girls.

Rice said Fothergill is familiar with other targeted members of Western’s 2011 recruiting class, namely Rockcastle High School’s Sara Hammond, who Rice labeled a “good friend” of Fothergill’s. The two play on the same AAU team, the Kentucky Elite.

Fothergill plays the point guard position for her high school team, but given her 5-7 frame and scoring abilities, Rice said he sees her as a shooting guard at the collegiate level. He stopped just short of saying she’s a complete player.

“She has unbelievable range,” he said. “She shot almost 40 percent from three-point range (last season). She’s a tough-nosed, strong guard. It won’t hurt to play her at point guard, but she’s probably designed a little more to be a spot up shooter.

“She’s just a pure scorer. She can score a number of different ways. She can get to the basket, draw contact and still score. If you back off of her, she can score from 22 feet out. She can play real good defense as well.”

Fothergill comes from a basketball family. Her sister Devin plays for Presbyterian in North Carolina, and her father Mark played at Maryland from 1979-1984 and was drafted by the Phoenix Suns in the 1984 NBA Draft.

“She’s a very coachable kid,” Rice said. “She’s got an extremely competitive nature and has a good winning attitude. Western’s getting a great kid.”