Mi-Khida Hankins (white jersey) posts up her defender in recent Providence game.
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By Mike Buchanan
 

Mi-Khida Hankins is part of a select club that few know about.

She is one of four (soon to be five) former IAAM players currently playing in the Big East. And, like her fellow club members, she too is making her mark.

St. Frances alum Angel McCoughtry is the reigning Big East Player of the Year at Louisville and among the leading scorers in the nation this season. Chandrea Jones is leading Syracuse in scoring in her first season with the Orange, as a junior. Brittany Mallory is getting quality minutes as one of the first guards off the bench in her freshman season for the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. Current St, Frances senior star Kandice Green will be joining “the club” next year as a freshman at Seton Hall.

It did not tale long for Hankins to make her mark in the league.

She has started all 18 games and is averaging 28.8 minutes per game, third on the team.  The 6’ 0” can play either guard or forward.  She is currently second on the team in both scoring (10. 7 ppg) and rebounding (4.1 rpg).

Providence is a  very young team, as Head Coach Phil Seymore sometimes posts a starting line-up that includes two freshmen – one of them Hankins - and two sophomores. Hankins is one of three frosh on the squad.

The Friars lost to No. 24/21 DePaul in Big East play on January 12th,  66-55. Hankins matched her career high with 20 points to lead all scorers, and also had eight boards. DePaul’s bench production, however, offset Hankins big game and helped the Blue Demons to the 11-point win.

Her earlier 20-point game was in a 59-56 win over Massachusetts on December 31st at Alumni Hall in Providence, and for consistency, she also grabbed eight rebounds in that game.

This past Saturday, Providence dropped an 81-61 decision to No. 22/24 Pittsburgh, as the St. Frances alum dropped in 16 points to go along with another eight  rebounds. In their most recent game, Hankins played all 40 minutes and was just a bit below her season averages, contributing nine points and six boards in a 70-50 loss to Villanova.

Providence is 11-7 overall and struggling in league play with a Big East mark of 1-4.

In upcoming “club meetings,” Hankins will face Mallory and Notre Dame on January 30th,  Jones and Syracuse on February 19th and McCoughtry and Louisville on February 26th.

One of the long line of go-to players for Coach Jerome Shelton while at St. Frances Academy, Hankins was a three-team All-Metro player and a three-time IAAM All-Conference selection, while she helped lead the Panthers to four A-Conference titles. She scored over 1,000 career points and averaged 19 points, eight rebounds and three assists per game.

Many players, even those who were star players in high school, find it to sometimes to a tough adjustment when going to the bigger NCAA Division 1 stage.

Hankins, however, has not missed a beat. When you play 40 minutes in a college game, that’s a sign that your coach does not want you out of the game – at all.

Rest assured that with the play of Hankins, and her fellow club members, more Big East coaches will be making visits to recruit IAAM players.