Sophomores Camille Reynolds, Tugce Canitez and Kiki Edwards-Teasley of the NJCAA champion North Idaho College women's basketball team signed letters of intent to Division I schools over the weekend.

Reynolds a 5-foot-5 guard from Lakeland High in Rathdrum, signed with South Alabama University, a member of the Sun Belt Conference, located in Mobile.

Reynolds visited the campus last weekend and immediately fell in love with the surroundings in the Mobile area.

"I'm really excited," Reynolds said. "They've got a great medical school and great weather. I'm really looking forward to that."

Tugce Canitez, a 6-2 forward from Ismir, Turkey, signed with DePaul University, a Big East school in Chicago.

Canitez will join a Blue Demons team which reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament last month before losing to Duke.

“It’s really cool,” Canitez said. “I’m so excited about playing in the Big East.”

NIC coach Chris Carlson said DePaul was Canitez’s first choice.

Canitez was a first-team All-American as a sophomore and was selected to the second team as a freshman and named to the Scenic West Athletic Conference first team this season.

“When she came to NIC, her No. 1 goal was to play in that conference with the goal of one day being drafted into the WNBA,” Carlson said. “They liked how she plays after watching her at the NJCAA tournament.”

Edwards-Teasley, a 6-2 forward from Lewiston, signed with Oregon State, joining fellow Cardinal teammate Kama Griffitts in the Pac-10 Conference. Griffitts signed with Arizona in November.

“Kiki wanted to be somewhat around her family,” Carlson said. “It’s a great fit for her and she has the chance to play right away.”

Reynolds intends on studying pre-medicine with the goal of becoming a doctor. She was named to the NJCAA all-tournament team and to the SWAC second team.

“I’ll at least do my undergraduate work there,” Reynolds said. “I’m a little nervous about playing at the Division I level, but it’s a good opportunity and I can’t pass it up.”

Reynolds had planned to take visits to Liberty University and James Madison University.

“She had a few more visits in Virginia scheduled for this week, but canceled them because she just fell in love with it in Alabama,” Carlson said.

This year’s NJCAA title has also given Reynolds a confidence she can succeed at the next level.

“We had such a great team at NIC,” Reynolds said. “Having that experience here will help me rise to the occasion there, but I know I’ll have to work hard to be successful there.”

“Camille is a combo guard that can play both the point and the two,” South Alabama coach Rick Pietri said in a school release. “She is deceptively quick and intensely competitive. She has a great handle of the basketball, delivers it well and shoots it roughly 40 percent from the arc. On top of that, she’s an excellent defender, particularly on the ball. She will bring some national championship experience with her having been a major factor on a team that won the national junior college championship.”

Long Beach State, Concordia University in Portland and Seattle-Pacific University also were interested in Reynolds.

“I really wanted to go Division I,” Reynolds said. “South Alabama had the best scholarship opportunities and I thought it was a good place for me.”

South Alabama went 17-13 last season, losing in the second round to Arkansas-Little Rock in the Sun Belt Conference tournament.

DePaul is losing five seniors off a team that defeated Final Four teams Stanford and Notre Dame during the regular season and finished 29-7.

“When I talked to the head coach, I told him I really wanted to play with you guys,” Canitez said. “He told me I was a very important player for them. Winning is everything for me and this will help achieve my goal.”

Kansas and Missouri of the Big 12 Conference were also interested in Canitez, as was Virginia Commonwealth.

“There was a lot of schools wanting her,” Carlson said. “She went on a visit and liked it in Chicago. She wanted to get to a big city and everything worked out. It was her first choice and she got there.”

OSU assistant coach Eric Ely was a contributing factor in the recruiting process for Edwards-Teasley, according to Carlson.

“He followed her all through the national tournament,” Carlson said. “She had a career high in points and rebounds in those last two games. That was the clincher for them as far as watching her.”

Head coach Scott Rueck enters his third year at OSU. The Beavers finished 9-21 last season.

“She’s got a chance to play right away,” Carlson said. “Playing time and playing in the Pac-10 will be wonderful. It will be a challenge, but she loves a challenge. It’s a good fit for Kiki.”