Stotijn picks Hogs, 1st 2024 women’s commit
University of Arkansas women’s basketball Coach Mike Neighbors and his staff landed the commitment of international prospect Phoenix Stotijn on Sunday morning.
Stotijn, 5-9, of Haarlem, Netherlands, received a a scholarship offer from Arkansas on April 5 and had others from schools such as Missouri, West Virginia, Texas Tech, Arizona, Central Florida, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Washington State and others.
She made official visits to Arkansas, Central Florida and West Virginia. Stotijn noted the highlights of her visit to Fayetteville.
“For sure having dinner at Coach Neighbors’ house and meeting all the great staff and players,” she said. “Also the practice where I saw the style of how they played, it just fits perfect. Those two things just instantly made me know where I wanted to continue my career.”
While playing for the 18-under Netherlands National Team in the 2023 European Championships, Stotijn averaged 15 points, 2 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game while shooting 31.9% from three-point range.
Stotijn had a high of 27 points in a 74-53 victory over the United Kingdom. She hit 7 of 9 threes in 20 minutes on July 7.
She also had praise for associate head coach Todd Schaefer and assistant Lacey Goldwire.
“I just really met them for real at the visit,” she said. “I talked to Coach Todd and Coach Lacey quite a lot before coming to the visit and I already knew they were great people by just calling with them. When I came onto the visit I met everyone and everyone was really great and such nice people and I immediately felt comfortable there.”
Neighbors was on hand to watch Stotijn during the European Championships in addition to the 3-on-3 world championships in Hungary, where Neighbors first saw her.
She is the first pledge for Arkansas in the class of 2024.