UND women’s basketball rounds out 2024-25 recruiting class with Canadian forward

GRAND FORKS — UND women’s basketball assistant coach and recruiting coordinator John Motherwell has fostered relationships with Canadian high school coaches since returning to UND in 2018.

Every roster since 2021-2022 has had at least two Canadian players on it. Last season, the roster featured five players from Canada.

That number will rise to six next season as the Fighting Hawks rounded out its 2024-2025 recruiting class Monday with the addition of Canadian forward Anaiyah Fletcher.

“We’ve got great connections in Canada,” UND coach Mallory Bernhard said. “We have players from Canada on our roster, and we’ve become a team that Canadian players are well aware of and want to be a part of.”

Fletcher averaged 9.4 points, 10.1 rebounds and 2.0 steals in 12 games with Bond Academy in Toronto this season.

The 6-foot forward is a very athletic player, Bernhard said.

“She can attack the glass really hard,” she said. “Her rebounding is awesome. Off the bounce, really good as a power forward, and she can even do a little bit of back to the basket stuff as well. But she’ll bring some length and athleticism to that power forward position.”

Fletcher finished with double-digit rebounds in seven of her 12 games and notched four double-doubles. She scored more than 10 points in six games.

Fletcher will come to UND with

Jocelyn Schiller,

Skyler Volmer

and

Mataeya Mathern,

whose signing was also officially announced Monday.

Edgeley’s Mathern and Grand Forks Red River’s Schiller are two North Dakota natives on a team that didn’t feature a local player last season.

“We talk about how we want the best players in the state of North Dakota to choose the University of North Dakota,” Bernhard said. “After Maggie (Manson) graduated, we didn’t have any North Dakota players. Obviously, that was something that we wanted to address. You’re going to find a player from the state puts the jersey on very proudly, and I think both Mataeya and Jocie will do that. They’re going to be great representatives for us.”

Grafton native

Walker Demers also transferred to UND

this spring from South Dakota with two years of eligibility remaining.

“In the last year, we’ve added three players from the state of North Dakota, which I think is incredible,” Bernhard said. “Obviously, something that’s pretty cool. Add in Skyler, and she’s from South Dakota, so it’s very Dakota-pride driven, which is pretty cool.

“We want players that want to bust their butt, that want to give it their all, and they want to play as hard as they possibly can and be proud of our university. Just naming four players out of the five that we’re signing from the Dakotas is a pretty big part in that.”

UND had holes to fill left by fifth-years Kacie Borowicz, Sammiyah Hoskin and Destinee Oberg. The Hawks lost senior guard DJ Davis and freshman guard Mahogany Cottingham to the transfer portal.

The 2024-2025 recruiting class and the addition of Demers fill the needs UND had.

“I think we’ve got a really well-rounded class,” Bernhard said. “We have a post, we have a good power forward, we have a big, long guard, and then we have that one-two with the Jocie-Skyler combo. It seems like we’ve got a really good balance positionally of who we’re bringing in, too.”