Penticton All-Star Commits to TRU WolfPack
By BRONWEN SCOTT
January 10 2007
KAMLOOPS - It’ll be hoops in the ‘Loops for Penticton student Jena Riches next season.
Riches, a 5’9” guard and all-star at Penticton Senior Secondary has committed to the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack’s women’s basketball team for the 2007/08 season.
WolfPack women’s basketball head coach Scott Reeves, who coached Riches on the U-16 Provincial team in 2005, expects her to have an immediate impact with the WolfPack.
“Jena is a multi-talented player that will be able to guard big or small. She shoots the ball very well and is extremely hard-working. Her presence and work ethic in practice will immediately elevate everyone’s level of expectation and pursuit of basketball excellence,” said.
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“We are in the process of building something very special at TRU in terms of academic and basketball excellence and Jena is a perfect fit for building that foundation,” he added.
Over the past two years, Riches has been named the MVP of her Penticton Senior Secondary basketball team and was awarded her school’s Most Inspirational Athlete award last year. She has numerous first-team All Star and MVP awards from various tournaments in 2004, 2005 and 2006.
This past summer, Riches was a starter for the U-17 Basketball BC Provincial team that won gold at the 2006 National Juvenile tournament in Sherbrooke, Quebec, and was also a member of the U-16 and U-17 Provincial team. |
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JENA RICHES |
In 2005, she was named MVP at three tournaments, and was named 1st-team all-star of the Junior Girls Provincial Championships. In 2004, she was MVP of the Junior Girls Okanagan Valley Championships. Her grade 10 team finished third at the Provincial Championships and she was named a 1st-team All Star. She has also volunteered with youth basketball for the past three years.
"I feel very excited and honoured to be selected by Scott Reeves for the women's basketball team at Thompson Rivers University. As a student athlete I look forward to the many opportunities Thompson Rivers University provides in their academic and athletic programs," said Riches, a 3.5 GPA honour student. who will be enrolled in Arts at TRU with an aim to major in Psychology.
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