HOT SPRINGS - Hot Springs High School athlete Kara Powell signed a National Letter of Intent last Wednesday, as she will head to Mercer University in Macon, Ga., to play basketball for the NCAA Division I Bears.

Powell, 17, is the daughter of Roy and Lynette Powell.

"I really liked everything about the school," Powell said last week. "I love the players and the coaching staff. It is a very friendly atmosphere."

Powell said that she was contacted by assistant coach Deanna Duerson following a tournament in Kearney, Neb., this past summer.

"I played on a team with (former Hot Springs player) Heidi Beehler, and there were a ton of coaches at the tournament," she said. "It was really great exposure."

Last year for the Lady Bison, Powell averaged 17 points and eight boards per game, while adding three steals, three assists and two blocks as well.

Although Macon is a long way from Hot Springs, the school appealed to Powell on several levels when she went to visit earlier this fall.

"I plan to go into education," she said. "I want to be a coach someday, and Mercer has an excellent education department."

Mercer is in the process of rebuilding a women's hoops program which has fallen on hard times. The Lady Bears were 5-25 last season, falling in the opening round of the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament to eventual champion Belmont.

New coach Janell Jones has begun the turn-around already, as the Lady Bears won their first three games and have a record of 3-3. Jones carries an impressive resume, as her teams have won more than 90 percent (225-24) of their games at the NAIA and NCAA Division II levels the past seven years. She led Oklahoma City University to a pair of NAIA titles and three runners-up finishes before taking NCAA D-II University of California-San Diego to the Final Four. Duerson has been an assistant to Jones through most of that success.

"We're very excited to have Kara on board here at Mercer," Jones said in a phone interview.

"We feel that Kara will have a huge impact on our program here. I saw her at the tournament in Nebraska and was struck by her athleticism," she continued.

"I feel that what Kara will bring as a basketball player and as a person will be a big bonus to our program. Her upside is tremendous."

Before heading out to Georgia, Powell will be concentrating on adding some wins to the Bison total this year. "I'm excited about the season," she said. "I think we can be really good this year."

Powell and the rest of the Lady Bison of coach Levi Klippenstein will open the season on Dec. 7 when they travel to Custer, which ended Hot Springs' season in the first round of District 15 last spring.