Paulina Paris recently told us on Protect Our Queens that she was looking for a family program for her college career.
That family will be the Penn State Nittany Lions.
https://twitter.com/PaulinaParis14/status/1378845059609681926
Paulina announced her verbal commitment this week on social media after narrowing down her options to eight schools at the top of the year, which included the likes of UCLA and North Carolina State, which apparently were her other final choices.
Something else Paulina mentioned about her recruitment was that the Zoom conversations weren’t doing it for her. She hinted at the chance to visit some schools physically again before making a decision.
But the Penn State staff ended up sealing the deal for Paulina.
“Even through Zoom I got that feeling that they really wanted me and that they would trust me running their program for four years,” she told me by text.
“Yesterday the coaches got me on a quick Facetime call with some of the girls just to say hi and they all seem so nice.”
The only other Big Ten programs on Paulina’s list were Northwestern and Rutgers, her only in-state choice. In her interview, she stressed wanting to go somewhere she could start right away and play her game.
Penn State seemed to offer that opportunity, and still close enough to her home tri-state area.
Penn State finished with a 9-15 overall record this season and is led by head coach Carolyn Kieger. Their last trip to the NCAA Tournament was in 2014. Their last winning season was in 2016-17 when they finished 22-11.
Paulina has another year of high school basketball left before starting her journey as a Nittany Lion. She averaged over 20 points this season and was named second-team all-state.
Penn State fans will have more time to get familiar and get excited about their dynamic guard coming in 2022.