MONTICELLO – Head women’s basketball coach Chris Ratcliff has announced the signings of two players to join the Blossoms for the 2009-10 season.

Brandi Bohannon will join the team after playing her senior season at Greenland High School in Greenland, Ark. She was named to the 2008 All-Conference squad, while also being selected to the Arkansas Top 25 and the 2008 Dream Team.

She is a 5-10 guard that averages 15.4 points per game and sports a 68.7 field goal percentage throughout her high school career.

“Brandi is the player every coach wants,” says Ratcliff. “She is a fearless competitor.  At 5’10, she is a big guard who has the ability to shoot over smaller guards with ease.  She is a lefty that shoots the ball from deep and can get inside and mix it up with the big girls.  Brandi is going to be a very good player for UAM over the next four years.”

Emilianne Slamons will also join the Blossoms from Greenland High School, where she has created an impressive basketball resume.

Slamons averages 18.75 points, 6.6 steals and 7.6 assists per contest, while shooting almost 57 percent from behind the three-point line. She was named the most valuable player of the Real Deal on the Hill Tournament, nominated for Gatorade High School Player of the Year, placed on the top 150 list on hoopgurlz.com and named to the 2008 All-Conference Team.

“Emili is going to be a fan favorite,” says Ratcliff. “She has a great personality to go with being a very good player.  As you can see with her 57 percent shooting, she can flat out stroke it from behind the arc.  Emili also has a great feel for the game.  She is a scoring point guard who doesn’t have to shoot.”

Ratcliff feels that these two will fill an important gap that will become available after this season.

“We are sitting good for the next four years on the inside,” says Ratcliff. “We need guards. We lose four senior guards and three of the them are shooters.  UAM has been known for the last two years to be able to shoot the ball from deep.  Emili and Brandi fill those needs immediately. I fully expect them to play right away and be fan favorites.”

“Coach (Staci) Cooper has been hard at work and deserves a lot of credit for these two young ladies,” says Ratcliff. “We expect to sign five to six players this year.  This is a great start to our 2009-2010 recruiting class.”