NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State women's basketball program will welcome Simone Goods to the team for the start of the 2017-18 season, head coach Kristen Gillespie announced Friday.
Goods, who hails from Omaha, Nebraska, was named the 2017 Spalding® NJCAA DII Women's Player of the Year, after a stellar sophomore season at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where she led the Eagles to a perfect 37-0 record and an NJCAA Division II National Championship. In the national championship game against No. 2 Johnson City (Kan.), Goods produced game highs of 19 points and 17 rebounds to go along with three rejections, as she led Kirkwood to its seventh national championship while being named tournament MVP. She averaged 15.0 points and 8.5 rebounds per game over the four national tournament games in Harrison, Arkansas.
"We are thrilled to have Simone as our first signee," Gillespie said. "Simone is a proven winner and will have an immediate impact on our program. She helped lead Kirkwood to a 37-0 record and a national championship. Simone will give us leadership on and off the court and based on her ability to score the ball, she should be outstanding player in the Valley."
For the season, Goods averaged 16.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game. She also shot 67.9 percent from the field, which was the top mark in the Division II ranks. She surpassed 60 percent or higher in field goal percentage 27 times and also shot an impressive 70 percent or better from the field on 19 different occasions. Goods reached double-figures in scoring in all but three games this season and posted 10 double-doubles on the season.
Prior to her historic season at Kirkwood, Goods played her freshman year at Western Kentucky, averaging 2.6 points and 2.3 rebounds per game.
Goods graduated from Benson High School in Omaha and played a major role during her senior season, as she averaged 12.3 points and 8.1 rebounds per game while leading Benson to an undefeated regular season. She also participated in the 2015 Boys' and Girls' Club of the Midland Metro's All-Star game. Goods played her junior season at Omaha Northwest High School, where she averaged 13.3 points, 10.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game and earned honorable mention all-state accolades.
Goods' addition creates a two-person recruiting class, as she joins Ajai Simmons of Studio City, California, who signed with the Redbirds during the November signing period.
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