MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — As a heavily recruited forward in the Class of 2021, Morgantown’s Kaitlyn Ammons earned several Division I scholarship offers. A visit to Chicago last fall put DePaul University at the top of her list and on Friday, Ammons verbally committed to join the Blue Demons.
“I fell in love with it,” Ammons said. “I literally did not want to leave on the last day of my visit. I was there for a weekend and told my parents, ‘I don’t want to go home’.”
DePaul is one of the nation’s elite programs in women’s college basketball. The Blue Demons went 28-5 this winter, sweeping the Big East Conference regular season and tournament titles and they had clinched an 18th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
“I am so excited. I can’t wait to put on a DePaul jersey. The feelings I am having right now are overwhelming. I have known I was going to commit all week and I have been itching to tell people. I couldn’t wait.”
DePaul head coach Doug Bruno has won 722 games in 34 seasons in with the Blue Demons. He was instrumental in recruiting Ammons.
“(Coach Bruno) was calling me multiple times every week. He was very involved and that is hard to find at a lot of schools. That was one of the main points why they seemed like the best fit.”
Ammons has certainly put the work and the miles in to become a Division I player. During the summers, Ammons made frequent long road trips to compete with the Philly Belles AAU team based in Philadelphia.
“The Belles really helped me get the exposure that I needed. You wouldn’t believe the amount of schools that recruited me that would say, ‘If you hadn’t played for the Belles, we honestly wouldn’t have known who you were’.”
With her college recruiting now complete, Ammons can focus on her senior season with a Morgantown High squad that advanced to the state tournament despite not having a single senior on their roster. Ammons averaged 16.3 points and 7.9 rebounds per game in her junior season and she was named the captain of the Class AAA All-State second team.
“We upset the No. 1 team in the state (Wheeling Park in regionals). I think this season we are going to kind of get things turned around for Morgantown High School and get us back on track where we need to be.”