Last Thursday, the Marquette’s women’s basketball team received the signatures of four National Letters of Intent from players in the high school class of 2010. Mercedes Griffin, Courtney Thomas, Gabrielle (Gabi) Minix, and Katie Young all signed to join the Golden Eagles’ squad next fall.

Coach Terri Mitchell was pleased with the signings and expressed her emphasis to replace the guard position next year.

“We will be graduating a lot of guards in the next couple of years … So we really wanted to load up on our guard play,” she said.

Griffin led Bolingbrook High School to the Illinois 4A title her junior year and helped the team to a No. 3 ranking in the ESPN Rise Fab 50 standings.

“Mercedes Griffin comes from one of the top teams in the nation,” Mitchell said. “She is a lock down defender and we will be looking for her to be that.”

Thomas has been ranked as high as No. 29 in ESPN HoopGurlz for the class of 2010, and in her sophomore year she was named to the All-Area Greater Chicago Third Team.

“Courtney Thomas … knows how to win,” Mitchell said. “(She is) another defender, another screener and a great rebounder.”

Minix, a 5-foot-9 point guard, averaged 16 points, eight assists and five rebounds in her junior year, leading Oregon-Davis High School (Hamlet, Ind.) to a 22-3 season.

“Gabi Minix is someone who will play combo guard,” Mitchell said. “So she will be able to play in with Tatiyiana (McMorris) and Angel (Robinson) and learn from Angel for a year.

Young, a native of Kenosha, Wis., was named to the All-Southeast Conference First Team following her junior year, in which she averaged 14.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.9 blocks and 1.6 steals per season.

“We have Katie Young right here in Kenosha who just kind of plays multiple positions just like Sarina (Simmons) … so a very versatile player,” Mitchell said.