HUNTINGTON -- After advancing to the Conference USA semifinals last season and assessing the team's needs headed into recruiting, Marshall women's basketball coach Royce Chadwick knew there was a definite hole at the center position.

So, just how big was the void?

About 6-foot-6 and it was just filled.

Chadwick announced that Kamille Lisonbee, a 6-foot-6 center from Providence, Utah, inked a National Letter of Intent to join the Thundering Herd this season.

"Our assistant coaches challenged everybody to fill the voids. We went from Tennessee to New York to all over the East to find the right mix," Chadwick said. "Through beating the bushes, we found out about Camille. We went out and checked her out then she came out here on a visit and liked what she saw. Hopefully, it will be a great fit for Marshall women's basketball."

Lisonbee averaged 10.3 points, 9.1 rebounds and 4.3 blocks per game at Mountain Crest High School in Providence, Utah. She was named the Herald-Journal Defensive Player of the Year and a member of the Cache Valley First Team. She also received Region V Second Team honors.

While the double-figure points are a definite bonus for Chadwick, his emphasis was more on Lisonbee's rebounding and ability to block several shots a game while altering several others.

In the 2007-08 season, Marshall blocked 81 shots in 33 games. At the same time, Lisonbee blocked 88 shots in just 20 games.

"Last season, we won 17 games without a true center," Chadwick said. "Our intentions were to shore up our weaknesses and we've done that."

It is hard for a girl to go under the radar at 6-foot-6, but despite the accolades during her senior season, Lisonbee fell through the cracks of all six of Utah's Division I schools. So Lisonbee decided to jump from the Beehive State to the Mountain State.

Chadwick said that Lisonbee has the ability to make an immediate impact, just as former Herd center Modupe Ishola did when she came in and played 29 games as a freshman en route to a star-studded career that led her to a European professional career.

The veteran Herd coach even went as far to say that Lisonbee is ahead of the pace that Ishola was on when she entered the program in 2003.

"We listed Modupe at 6-foot-3 -- she was more like 6-2 -- and I think she would admit that when she came in, she could run up and down the floor twice and then she'd be gassed," Chadwick said. "Camille is much further down the trail when it comes to transition basketball and she already knows how to play help-side defense."

Amanie Crosbie, Lisonbee's coach at Mountain Crest, said that she is fun to watch because she is coachable and loves to work hard.

Chadwick said he plans to put that to the test immediately, so it can pay big dividends for his team.

"We are looking for her to step in and change our practices from Sept. 1 on," Chadwick said. "She will bring a unique presence to our team and we want to utilize that this year.

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