Proviso East High School student and basketball star Ivory Crawford will sign on to play ball at Illinois University on November 10th at 1:00 p.m., with a 4-year scholarship worth over $100 thousand.

Crawford, a 5-9 guard, averaged about 16 points and four rebounds per game last season for the Pirates, who finished 24-5 and won the Class 4A Regional Championship in 2009. She was recruited heavily by Rutgers University, DePaul, The University of Alabama, and Missouri, but Crawford chose to stay in her home state. On October 18th, she gave a verbal agreement to the Fighting Illini. She says the school “just fits” and that she’s looking forward to joining the team.

“It means so much to me to be able to go to college and to go to a school that fits me,” said Crawford. “Thanks to my father and my coaches—they really helped me. At the University of Illinois the team fits me, and they have the academic support there that will help me succeed. There are going to be a lot of eyes on me.”

Crawford is the first in her senior class to sign with a major university. Her remarkable athletic ability and talent have been praised by the Proviso Herald, the Chicago Tribune, and even ESPN.

“Ivory Crawford leaves no doubt that she may be on the verge of making a bid to see her name in the 2011 class rankings,” said ESPN’s Mark Lewis. “The 5-9 combo guard is explosive athletically and has a physically strong build that makes her a difficult match up for smaller defenders. Her individual skills create drive after drive to the rim and her aggressive attack helps make weakside defenders hesitant to dig in. She finishes well….”

Crawford says she looks forward to bringing those skills to the University of Illinois. The Illinois Fighting Illini women's basketball team is an NCAA Division I college basketball team competing in the Big Ten Conference. Crawford will sign at Proviso East High School on Nov. 10th, 2010 at 1:00 p.m. with her family and coaches present.