Beals Signs to Play at Lincoln Christian University

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Published on April 20 2015 9:17 am
Last Updated on April 20 2015 1:00 pm
Written by Greg Sapp

Brittany Beals (center) is flanked by her parents, Lori Beals and Grant Beals. Back row, left to right, LCU Head Coach Donnie Bowman, EHS Coach Jeff Schafer and LCU Associated Head Coach Amanda Bowman.

Effingham High School's Brittany Beals has signed a letter-of-intent to play college basketball at Lincoln Christian University.

Beals is the third member of Coach Jeff Schafer's 2014-15 EHS squad to sign to continue their basketball career; Jantzen Michael and Maddy Field earlier signed to play at Greenville College. She's the daughter of Grant Beals and Lori Beals.

Beals is heading to Lincoln Christian just as former EHS star Tatiana Colclasure is completing her career at the school. The senior was a captain her final season. She was named Best Defensive Player, led in rebounding with 168 and in blocks with 26.

Brittany has done a great job for us the last two seasons," said Coach Schafer. "She was one of the best defenders in the Apollo Conference. When you think she had to guard, Watson from Salem and Sherwood from Charleston and Bollinger from Taylorville, and Thompson from Mattoon, that is some tough opponents and she did a great job each time.

"Brittany has a lot of upside still as she has never really been too much of a scoring threat. We did not play real fast this year, more of an uptempo game in college will give her more opportunities to score. She is a smart basketball player, who will work as hard as she can for you.

"I only remember one day in four years, where I had to correct her effort, it was pretty much like, "I don't correct you very much, but your effort today is not Brittany-like and I don't remember ever having a conversation like that with her again.

"I am happy for her that she found a college that matches her values, and I know one of our former players Tatiana Colclasure really enjoyed it, so I look for Brittany to as well. She will be able to help handle the ball if needed and will give her new coaches a lot of options."

"A fellow staff member knew Brittany and recommended for us to contact her," said Lincoln Christian University Coach Donnie Bowman. "She visited campus and played with some of our current players. After seeing her play, we knew she would be a good fit for our team.

"She will fit into our program because she can guard quicker posts. Brittany is also quick around the post which makes her tough to guard. We will work on her becoming stronger so that she will be able to guard stronger collegiate post players.

"We just transitioned to playing in the NAIA Division II and National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) Division I this past season. We had previously played in just the NCCAA Division II. While in the NCCAA II, we went to the National Tournament in 2004, 2005, and 2006.

"We have been rebuilding the program and in the last two seasons have had winning seasons. In 2013-2014 we had a nine-game winning streak going into the post season. This past year (2014-2015), we had a 10-game winning streak in January/February before falling in the NCCAA II Midwest Regional Championship game. Our record was 16-7 in 2014-2015.

"Brittany is our first player to sign. We have two more that we are hoping to sign within the next couple of weeks."

Here's our conversation with Brittany Beals just after her signing ceremony...