COLLEGE BASKETBALL: OWEGO'S DONOVAN VERBALLY COMMITS TO PENN STATE (2019-01-23)
BY TIM TAYLORTioga County Sports ReportOWEGO - Kaci Donovan was born to be a Penn State University basketball player. This week, the Owego standout took the next step in becoming a Nittany Lion. The 6-foot-1 junior guard has verbally committed to continue her basketball career in Happy Valley.
"I came out of the womb a Penn State fan," she said. "My dad went there, so that was a big thing to me. He brought me to my first Penn State game when I was a baby, so yeah, I kind of grew up rooting for Penn State."
Her father wasn't an athlete at Penn State, but her mother played basketball and softball at Cortland. Together, genetics and tradition have come together for what looks like a good fit.
Donovan is also impressed in the way she has been received by the Penn State program.
"When I was about 14, on my first college visit, that's when I met the coaching staff and they took me in as family, so that was a big thing to me," she said. "It's very family-oriented there."
Donovan turned away numerous opportunities to play for other Division I programs in her quest to play for Penn State.
"I ended this recruiting process with about 30 D-1 scholarship offers, but they wer from smaller conference schools, but none of them compared to Penn State, just the whole atmosphere of it," she said.
Going from the Class B ranks in New York state to the Division I level in college is a huge step up, but Donovan is looking forward to the challenge.
"Actually, I want to experience what its like to have a bigger atmosphere of people," she said. "I know that going into a school like that, they're always going to be trying to recruit over me, and I know that everybody's going in (for) the same reason I am."
Owego head coach Luke McEvoy believes Donovan is ready to accept the challenge of competing at the D-1 level.
"She's a hard-working kid," he said. "Every single day she's going to give the most that she can give. She's the first one in the gym, last one out of the gym, so whatever the coaching staff asks for, you know she's going to do it."
Donovan started playing basketball at age 7. She attended the USA team trials and gained national exposure last summer when she competed in AAU basketball with the Philadelphia Belles at the 16U Nike EYBL level. Those experiences only helped her improve her game.
"I think her experience during her AAU season, her experiences when she participated in the USA team trials, to go see that type of competition and even higher level Division I competition, she's ready for it. I think she's only going to get better. She still has a ton of potential - every single day, a group of college coaches working with her, strength and conditioning coaches working with her, she'll rise to that next level and be ready to compete. Again, do whatever the coaches ask her to do, take on whatever role is asked of her, I think she will be very successful."
Of course, the academic opportunities were also key in the decision-making process and Penn State is highly regarded for its educational offerings.
"It's a very high academic school," Donovan said. "I haven't decided what I want to do yet, but when I decide what I want it will be there. That's a big thing to me."
While basketball success at the collegiate level is important, getting that quality education is Donovan's priority.
"Education is definitely the No. 1 thing for me because I want to get my academics in, get the major I want," she said. "For basketball, I just want to get the most success we possibly can, maybe some conference championships, get in the NCAA tournament, stuff like that."
Penn State is currently 2-5 in the Big Ten and 9-9 overall. The Nittany Lions' last NCAA tournament appearance was in 2014, where they were eliminated in the regional semifinals by Stanford and finished the season with a 25-8 record.
Owego is currently 14-0 and ranked fifth in the state. Donovan, who surpassed 1,000 career points in early December, has 378 this season.
