---Jessie Slack averaged 6.7 points per game at East Carolina last season and helped the Pirates capture the C-USA championship. Slack is expected to provide NKU with scoring in 2007-08.

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - Despite the loss of five seniors from last season’s 21-8 squad, the Northern Kentucky University women’s basketball team should again be in the hunt for a berth in the NCAA Division II Tournament in 2007-08.

The return of three starters and a solid recruiting class figures to keep NKU near the top of the Great Lakes Valley Conference, and the Norse added yet another impact player Friday in the person of East Carolina transfer Jessie Slack.

A 5-foot-11 guard, Slack was a major contributor for East Carolina the past two years. She started 22 games last season and averaged 6.7 points as the Pirates captured the Conference USA championship. East Carolina advanced to the NCAA Tournament and finished with a 19-14 record. Slack was also presented East Carolina’s Scholar Athlete Award at the postseason banquet after maintaining a 3.71 grade point average in biology.

In addition, she set a single-season record at East Carolina by making 84 percent of her free throws. Slack scored in double figures five times as a sophomore, including 17-point efforts against both Harvard and Pittsburgh.

“Jessie Slack is an outstanding scorer and an extremely versatile basketball player who is going to be a great fit to our team,” NKU head coach Nancy Winstel said. “We lost some very good perimeter players to graduation, and we think she is going to step in and really help us because of her versatility."

"Jessie was a big part of East Carolina’s success last season when they won the Conference USA championship," Winstel continued, "and we are thrilled to have her join our program. She has a great work ethic and is an outstanding student. Jessie wants to pursue a career in the veterinary field, and she is the complete package as a student-athlete.”

As a freshman at East Carolina, Slack averaged 7.8 ppg in 28 games and finished fourth on the team with 42 assists. She also poured in a career-high 19 points against Memphis as a freshman.

A native of Mt. Perry, Ohio, Slack is a graduate of Sheridan High School. She led the Lady Generals to three consecutive Muskingum Valley League championships and was twice named first team Ohio Division II all-state. Slack earned All-MVL honors three times, and she was named Southeast District co-Player of the Year as a senior.

---Jessie Slack is shown during the NCAA Tournament last March. Slack will join an NKU team that will seek its ninth NCAA Tourney berth in 10 years this season.

Slack currently owns or shares eight school records at Sheridan, including most points in a career (1,255), most points in a season (390) and most 3-pointers made in a season (48). She also collected a school-record 396 steals during her career, including 13 thefts in a game twice.

Her first 13-steal performance occurred in her second varsity game as a freshman. Slack earned four letters in basketball at Sheridan and helped the Lady Generals reach the Ohio Division II state semifinals in 2004. She also shares the Sheridan school record for 3-pointers made in a game (5) with her sister, Jenny.

Slack is the fourth player NKU has added for the 2007-08 season. The Norse earlier signed Cincinnati prep star Diondra Holliday of Clark Montessori, Xenia High School standout Kendra Caldwell and Mount de Chantal Visitation Academy graduate Rita Stefán for the upcoming season.

Holliday, who signed with NKU during the fall, is a 5-foot-5 point guard who averaged 16.8 ppg this season at Clark Montessori. Caldwell, a 6-foot post player, averaged identical numbers of 6.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game as a senior for Xenia. She blocked 94 shots during her career for the Lady Buccaneers and earned honorable mention All-Greater Western Ohio Conference accolades as a senior.

Stefán, a native of Miskolc, Hungary, played her high school basketball at Mount de Chantal Visitation Academy in Wheeling, W. Va. She averaged 12.8 points per game as a senior and made 84.1 percent of her free throws.

Those four newcomers join an NKU team that posted a 21-8 record last season. The Norse also advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament for the eighth time in the past nine seasons.

NKU will return three starters - post players Angela Healy and Cassie Brannen, along with guard Nicole Chiodi - in 2007-08. The Norse must replace five seniors from that team, including All-Great Lakes Valley Conference standout Brittany Winner and 1,000-point career scorers Karyn Creager and Karmen Graham.