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CHARLESTON, ILL -- Eastern Illinois women's basketball head coach Matt Bollant has added two new players for the class of 2023.  Lalani Ellis and Charita "Tiny" Lewis will both join the team for the upcoming 2023-24 season.

"We are very excited about these two and feel they can add to an extremely talented returning group."  said coach Bollant.

A 5'6" point/combo guard from St. Cloud, Minn., Lewis is coming to EIU by way of the North Dakota State College of Science.  In her one season at NDSCS, Lewis started 34 of 35 games and totaled 481 points.  She averaged 13.7 points per game, three assists per game, and 4.3 rebounds per game.  She shot 44% from the floor, 31.5% from three-point range, and 70.8% from the free throw line.
At Minnehaha high school, she earned Conference Player of the Year honors her senior season and was a two-time All-Conference team selection.  She scored 1,000+ career points in just two seasons at Minnehaha and helped lead the team to a Conference title her senior year, earning State Basketball All-Tournament honors in the process.  She played AAU basketball for the Minnesota Comets, DTA Academy, and North Tartan.

"Tiny is a very quick point guard who can handle the ball against pressure and get by and make plays," said head coach Matt Bollant.  "She is great at pressuring the ball and is an extremely good defender."
 
A 5'7" point guard from Milwaukee, Wis., Ellis comes to EIU from the Milwaukee Academy of Science, where she averaged 20.7 points per game, 8.6 rebounds per game, 5.5 assists per game, and 3.9 steals per game in her senior year for the Novas under head coach Giovanni Riley.  Ellis totaled just shy of 1,200 points in her high school career and helped lead the Novas to a 43-7 record over her junior and senior seasons.  In her senior year, she helped lead the Novas to a state runner-up finish, earning Division 3 WBCA All-State Team honors in the process.  She played AAU basketball for Wisconsin Playground Elite.

"Lelani is a very strong guard that is very good at getting to the rim and scoring,"  said coach Bollant.  "She has a huge passion for basketball and wants to be great."