November 18, 1998
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Head coach Don Perrelli announced today the signing of the following four high school seniors to National Letters of Intent to play basketball at Northwestern beginning in the fall of 1999:
Emily Butler (point guard, 5-8, Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove) Nicole Daniels (guard/forward, 5-10, White Plains, N.Y./White Plains) Leslie Dolland (center, 6-2, Bloomington, Minn./The Blake School) Natalie Will (forward, 5-9, Nappanee, Ind./Northwood)
"It's a very, very good recruiting class for us," Perrelli enthused. "We hit all our areas of need. Butler is a very good point guard, Will is an excellent outside shooter, Daniels is a "3" player with athletic ability and Dolland is a strong "5" player in the post." Butler was twice named to the Street and Smith All-America honorable mention team. She was an all-state selection in 1998 and was named the Indianapolis Metro South Player of the Year. In addition, she received invitations to the Nike All-American Camp and the WBCA/Reebok Senior Camp last summer.
Daniels has already set the White Plains High School career scoring record for both boys and girls when she went over the 1,036-point mark as a junior. She averaged just over 18 points a game last season en route to all-league and all-section honors for the second-straight year. She was voted the Most Valuable Player of her league and in the off-season played for the New York Liberty Belles AAU team.
Dolland is one of the most highly-touted players from Minnesota. This year she was named to the Minnesota Basketball News preseason all-state first team. She averaged 10 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two steals as a junior at the Blake School. As a junior, Dolland was an all-conference and all-state honorable mention selection. Ranked first in her class of 150 seniors at Northwood High School, Will succeeds on and off the basketball court. As a junior, she led her team to a 23-2 record while averaging 13.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 6.1 assists per contest. She earned all-conference and high honorable mention all-state status. She was voted her team's most valuable player and was selected a first team honoree by the Sunburst-South Bend Tribune, The Goshen News, The Elkhart Truth, and The Warsaw Times.