Newcomers Find New Home At Utah

Six different cities, three different countries and two different continents. Those are just some of the differences between the six newcomers to the 2017-18 Utah women's basketball squad, but the one thing they all have in common – wanting to be a Ute.

Maurane Corbin (Saint-Bruno, Quebec), Jordan Cruz (Sacramento, Calif.), Dru Gylten (Rapid City, S.D.), Elli Koskinen (Salo, Finland), Arianna LaLonde (Phoenix, Ariz.) and Tori Williams (Boise, Idaho) make up close to half of this year's team. It is one of the largest freshman classes to come through the Utah women's basketball program, giving them an instant advantage in the transition from high school to college.

"Coming from really far away, it was important for me to come here and feel at home," Corbin said. "The fact that there are six of us all going through the same thing has made it easier. We are all going through it together and we are there for each other. I feel like I have made a new family here."

For Corbin, several factors weighed in on her decision to come to Salt Lake City, including the coaching staff, the facilities, the team and the opportunity to improve. The 6-5 post didn't start playing basketball until she was 15 years old, but quickly found a passion for the sport.

She helped her team (Montmorency CEGEP) to two provincial championships and a national championship, also earning her way onto the Canadian National Team for the 2014 FIBA U17 World Championships. It was her time with the national team that introduced her to names like Kim Smith, Shona Thorburn and Michelle Plouffe, all former Utah standouts.

"I think it is really inspiring to see all of the Canadians that came here and have now gone on to play for the senior National Team and in the Olympics," Corbin said. "I want to follow in their footsteps and have the same influence that they have had here."

Like Corbin, Koskinen's interest in college basketball came during her time playing international basketball with her country's national team. Koskinen played for the U15, U16 and U18 Finland National Teams, quickly realizing she had a future in basketball.

The 6-5 freshman was a late addition to the 2017-18 team, signing in July. Despite being thousands of miles away, Koskinen saw Utah as an experience and opportunity to be successful.

"I liked the coaching staff a lot," she said. "I felt like Utah had everything I needed to get better. I felt like this was the place for me where I can become the best player I can be."

Having the drive to be better is something that has been ingrained in Williams as well, who got her passion for the game at a young age.

"I started club ball when I was in fourth grade and ended up staying with the same coach throughout my career," Williams said. "My mom was an All-American and my dad played too, so I have known since I was a baby that I want to play college basketball."

Williams averaged 22 points per game at Centennial High School in Boise, Idaho, earning the 2017 Idaho Gatorade Player of the Year award as a senior. She led her team to a state championship in 2017, earning MVP at the state tournament. The awards were piling up for the Boise native, giving her a clear realization that she could play Pac-12 basketball and get a Pac-12 degree.

"I came to Utah because I really liked the coaching staff and on my visit, I just clicked with the team really well," Williams said. "I am planning on going pre-med because I want to be in orthopedics."

With a world class education on the line, it wasn't a hard decision for LaLonde to come to Utah with plans to major in computer science and become a video game designer. Adding height to the newcomer class at 6-4, the Phoenix, Ariz., native was a threat on both ends of the court in high school.

She averaged 7.9 points and 10.2 rebounds, earning first-team all-state. LaLonde will redshirt in 2016-17, but while some athletes would see that as a negative, she is excited to have the opportunity to adjust to the speed of college on and off the court.

"I will definitely be in a lot better shape than I am right now," LaLonde said. "It will give me a chance to catch up to the speed and level of the other post players on the team and also give me time to adjust to balancing academics and athletics."

While LaLonde has her sights set on that computer science degree, she is also just grateful to be playing college basketball. With an injury late in her high school career, the thought of playing basketball collegiately started to drift away.

"I never thought I would be able to play basketball in college," she said. "I always thought it would be fun and awesome, but I figured it wasn't going to happen. Then my junior year of high school, teams started to look at me and it started to feel real, but then I tore my ACL, and a lot of schools stopped talking to me, except for Utah."

While injuries in high school are common for athletes, Cruz's injury was something new to her, her family and her team. The Sacramento, Calif., native underwent brain surgery after an absence seizure at a game in 2014 delivered the news that Cruz had arteriovenous malformation (an abnormal tangle of arteries and veins in the brain).

Cruz underwent brain surgery as a freshman in high school, but came back to average 20 points per game her senior season. She was a three-time team MVP, a McDonald's All-American nominee and set the school record for three-pointers made in a game. While her stats on the court were impressive, it was her character that not only motivated her to play college basketball, but got the attention of the Utah coaching staff.

"To be able to be here, and to even be alive is such a blessing," Cruz said. "To still have the opportunity to play the sport that I fell in love with in kindergarten means the world to me. After my surgery, recovery, it took a while and I started to think negative, that surgery would take away college basketball."

"But my family believed in me and kept pushing me, and I started to believe in myself. I had amazing coaches, friends and family and I surrounded myself with really good people. If you believe in yourself, you can make it far."

Gylten, a 5-11 guard out of South Dakota, had more of a choice when it came to playing sports in college. The three-sport athlete had offers to compete in both volleyball and track and field collegiately, but knew her true passion was sticking with basketball.

"Both my grandparents and my parents played college basketball, so you could say it is in my blood," Gylten said. "I realized in eighth grade that I really wanted to play college basketball and being from a small community, I wanted to impact my community in some way and I felt that college basketball could help me achieve that."

Gylten was all-state in basketball, a state qualifier in track and field and a three-time all-conference selection in volleyball. While each sport is vastly different, Gylten feels being successful at all three helped prepare her for playing basketball in the Pac-12.

"You learn so much from playing different sports, some things that basketball may not teach you," she said. "Volleyball teaches you the quickness and reaction and focus you have to have for every set. With track, you focus on yourself and pushing yourself because you aren't going to get better unless you can push yourself."

While all six freshmen had different reasons for coming to Salt Lake City to extend their playing careers, one common theme was clear – Utah would be a place to grow as a person and a player.

"On my visit, it was the whole atmosphere that fit with my personality," Gylten said. "The coaching staff is amazing and they really understand you as not only a basketball player, but as a person. I love Utah and it was the perfect place for me."

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Players Mentioned

Maurane Corbin

Jordan Cruz

Dru Gylten

Elli Koskinen

Arianna LaLonde

Tori Williams

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