Ohio state tournament Most Valuable Player Amber Boyd (Cleveland, Ohio/Regina) and Boonville, Indiana honorable mention all-state forward Meagan Collins (Boonville, Ind./Boonville) have both signed national letters of intent to play women’s basketball at the University of Evansville, head coach Misty Murphy announced today.

Boyd, a 5’8 shooting guard from Ohio High School powerhouse Regina High School outside of Cleveland, and Collins, a 6’0 forward, join fall signees Chelsea Hawkins (Bucyrus, Ohio/Bucyrus), Samantha Heck (Auxvasse, Mo./North Callaway), Kaylan Martin (Pflugerville, Texas/Pflugerville) and Taylor Ware (Cincinnati, Ohio/Walnut Hills) in Murphy’s first recruiting class as head coach of the Purple Aces.  Murphy led Evansville to the State Farm MVC Tournament title and the school’s second NCAA Tournament appearance this past season as head coach.   She became just the second first-year head coach in UE history to lead their team to the NCAA Tournament, joining current women’s soccer coach Krista McKendree, who accomplished the feat this past November.

Boyd earned Division III state tournament MVP honors this past season after helping Regina High School to its state record-tying sixth state title and first unbeaten campaign as a senior.  She hit a tournament title game record six three-pointers en route to a game-high 23 points to help the Royals to a 63-48 victory over Oak Hill in the state title game.  Playing on a talented Regina team which featured Division III Associated Press Player of the Year Tay’ler Mingo, Boyd still carved out special mention all-Ohio and first team all-district honors this past year as a senior by averaging 13.1 points per game for the Royals.

“Amber is a feisty competitor with a tremendous upside,” said Murphy.  “She was the glue that held a very talented high school program together under Coach Pat Diulis at Regina.  She is an asset on both ends of the court with her will and determination on defense and her three-point shooting ability on offense.  We expect Amber will bring another level of intensity to our program.”

Collins earned honorable mention all-Indiana status from the Associated Press this past year, after averaging 23.5 points and 9.3 rebounds per game this past year for Boonville High School, located just east of Evansville.  Collins has also been named as one of Hoosier Basketball Magazine’s Top 60 seniors, and she earned special mention status on the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association all-senior squad this past year.  Collins, also an outstanding volleyball and softball player at Boonville, was also named to the Evansville Courier & Press’ all-Southwestern Indiana girls’ basketball first team as a senior.

“The passion Meagan has for the University of Evansville is uplifting, as her grandfather played on Arad McCutchan’s first team at UE,” said Murphy.  “Her greatest playing strength is her ability to score from a variety of positions on the floor.  We are confident that Meagan has the work ethic to make the adjustments to be successful at the Division I level and we know that she will be a great ambassador for UE and our basketball program.”

Evansville will return six letterwinners from this past season’s NCAA Tournament team, which advanced to UE’s second-straight postseason appearance by winning the State Farm MVC Tournament, led by junior guard Amy Gallagher’s 10.2 points per game scoring average.