Bradley Central Bearettes' Rebecca Reuter commits to MTSU

photo Rebecca Reuter

In 12 months, Rebecca Reuter will trade in her Bradley Central Bearettes uniform to become a Blue Raider — in Murfreesboro, not Cleveland.

Bradley’s 6-foot-3 senior forward committed Saturday morning to continue her basketball career at Middle Tennessee State University. Reuter averaged about 11 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots a game last year for the Bearettes, helping them reach the Class AAA state quarterfinals.

She joins teammate Brooke Copeland in earning NCAA Division I opportunities. Copeland recently committed to Florida.

Location became an important part of recruiting for Reuter, whose dad Jason is her head coach at Bradley. She chose the new Conference USA program over offers from Appalachian State, Furman, Western Carolina, Tennessee Tech and Lee University; she also had interest from Indiana University.

Reuter was in Knoxville on Saturday for the Teen Board.

MTSU has participated in seven of the last eight NCAA women’s tournaments.

“I didn’t want to be 12 hours from my family,” she said Saturday afternoon. “When I went to Middle, I fell in love with everything. It’s a great program that makes the NCAA tournament every year.

“I didn’t want to go farther than four hours away from home. My parents wouldn’t have had the chance to watch me play, and now I get to go to a program that is used to winning.”

She said the MTSU coaching staff has said she’ll have opportunities to play both post positions. They lose “three or four” posts after the 2013-14 season.

“She’s going to get the opportunity to play for a top-30 national program that is just two hours from home,” Coach Reuter said. “There’s no feeling like seeing your own daughter get this opportunity — there’s no way around it. You go on the visits and take the road trips.

“We’re fortunate and honored they felt so strongly about Rebecca. When we weighed everything — the location and the program — you just can’t beat it.”

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6311. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.

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