Head coach Beth Burns and her staff signed the 18th-best recruiting class nationally in 2010-11.

June 28, 2011

SAN DIEGO - San Diego State women's basketball's 2010-11 recruiting class has been rated best in the Mountain West and 18th nationally according to Espn.com's HoopGurlz rankings, which are based solely on high school prospect signings. The Aztecs, who inked five student-athletes to National Letters of Intent, moved up two spots from 20th on the website's initial fall list that was distributed after the early signing period in November.

For the second campaign in a row, the Aztecs are easily the top ranked school among Mountain West members, as TCU is the only other team listed in the top 60 at No. 40. San Diego State's recruiting class is rated higher than several notable programs including 2011 national runner-up Notre Dame (No. 24), UCLA (No. 19), Georgia Tech (No. 20), West Virginia (No. 21), DePaul (No. 22), LSU (No. 23), Ohio State (No. 25), Georgetown (No. 26) and Arizona State (No. 32). The Aztecs are also the only school in a "non-automatic BCS qualifying" conference rated in the top 30.

Last November, SDSU head coach Beth Burns announced the signing of three, four-star recruits according to HoopGurlz, including forward Chairese Culberson, who was the No. 7 rated wing and 46th overall, forward Deajanae Scurry (No. 31 forward) and point guard Ahjalee Harvey (No. 32 point guard). Forwards Khristina Hunter and Erimma Amarikwa both received three stars and round out the Aztec fall signing class.

A year ago, San Diego State's 2010 recruiting class was ranked No. 1 in the Mountain West and 31st nationally, while the Aztecs did not appear in the websites rankings in either 2008 or 2009.

The five incoming freshmen will be joined by junior point guard Chelsea Hopkins, who sat out a year ago after transferring from Duke. SDSU also returns eight letterwinners and two starters from its 2010-11 squad that went 12-17 overall.

2010-11 Aztec Basketball Signees

Name	           Position	Height	Yr.   Hometown (High School/Last School)
Erimma Amarikwa	   Forward	6-1	Fr.   Vacaville, Calif. (Vanden HS)
Chairese Culberson Forward	6-0	Fr.   Oakland, Calif. (Berkeley HS)
Ahjalee Harvey	   Point Guard	5-6	Fr.   Mt. View, Calif. (Eastside Prep HS)
Khristina Hunter   Forward	6-1	Fr.   Fairfield, Calif. (Berkeley HS)
Deajanae Scurry	   Forward	6-1	Fr.   Los Angeles, Calif. (Inglewood HS)
Chelsea Hopkins*   Guard	5-8	Jr.   Las Vegas, Nev. (Mojave HS/Duke)
* = signed with the Aztecs in July 2010