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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Lions announce two newcomers for 2007 Davis joins the Lions after playing one season each at Pratt Community College and then Cowley County Community College last season. Davis, a 5-foot-6 guard from Wellington, Kan., averaged 14.8 points a game and seven rebounds an outing during her time at Pratt. At Cowley, she was third in scoring at 9.8 ppg and pulled down nearly four rebounds a game. Davis was a four-year standout for the Wellington Crusaders high school squad, breaking 128 school records. A few of the records she broke was single-season marks in steals (229) and blocks (97). Also, she holds single-game all-time highs in rebounds (15), steals (11) and assists (9). At Wellington, she was a four-time unanimous first-team all-conference selection and a three-time all-state honoree. A three-sport athlete, Davis also competed two season each in volleyball and track. "Lindsey has a lot of explosiveness as a scorer," said Missouri Southern head women's basketball coach Maryann Mitts. "She's the kind of player coaches want on the court at all times and all of her coaches had told me they had a tough time removing her from the game." Helfrich comes to Southern after competing for a year at Vincennes University, a junior college located in Vincennes, Ind. and also for one season at the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL). A 6-foot forward from Indianapolis, Ind., Helfrich scored 10.1 ppg and averaged 5.4 rpg while at Vincennes and then 6.8 ppg and 3.5 rpg for UMSL. She also showed good touch at the free throw line for UMSL, hitting on 80 percent (36-of-45) of her attempts at the charity stripe. In high school, Helfrich was a four-year starter for the Beech Grove Hornets out of Beech Grove, Ind. She was a two-time team Most Valuable Player and led the Hornets in field-goal percentage, rebounds, blocks and free-throw percentage during her junior and senior seasons. Helfrich was a four-time all-conference performer and in 2003 was an all-state selection. Her individual accolades also led to team success, as Helfrich helped guide the Hornets to the class 3A state championship in 2003. She also participated in soccer three seasons and ran track for two years. She was a three-time all-conference selection in soccer. "Nichole is a very guard-like post player," said Mitts. "She has great size and is a great offensive rebounder. She's more of a physical presence, toughness-wise, than what we had last year." Mitts clearly likes the intangibles that each of the new additions will bring to the floor next season. "When we started to recruit we looked for a level of toughness and competitiveness we needed in our players and found that in both of these individuals," said Mitts. "Last year, we had a lot of talent, but lacked some toughness and those are hard qualities to recruit, but when you find them, they usually lead to a great work ethic." On the hardwood this past season, the Lions battled through injuries and departures to make their seventh straight appearance in the MIAA Postseason Tournament as the fifth seed and also secured their sixth consecutive winning season with a 14-13 overall record.
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