Sophomore guard Cassidy Carrillo accepted and signed a full-ride scholarship to Division II Dixie State.
Carrillo was happy for basketball and excited to accept the scholarship.
“It feels great. My goal was to attend a D-II school with nursing. My dream school was Dixie State, ” she said, expressing her excitement for the signing.
Carrillo attended St. Paul High School and played basketball all four years.
She also played all four years on the volleyball team and one year on the track and field team.
In high school, she averaged 18 points a game and led her team to winning league championships and helped advance her team to the second round of state playoffs.
She also got awarded with some titles while she was playing.
She was awarded the coachs award and the most-improved award. She also received an invitation to play in the Sergeants All-Star game.
Then she moved to Cerritos College to become a Falcon and play more basketball.
She played 59 games her freshman and sophomore year, averaged eight points a game and averaged 79 percent made free throws in her time as a Falcon.
With her numbers, Dixie State Head Coach Jenny Thigpen was very interested in taking a look at her play.
“I had contacted coach Jenny and told her I was interested and I’m a sophomore looking to go in and play.”
She said she would come down to watch me play at the sophomore showcase and so I continued to workout every day and I gave my all at the showcase,” she said.
“A few days later, coach Jenny called me and she said she loved the way I played and would like to talk in person,” she continued.
Falcons head coach Karen Welliver was very happy about Carillo’s signing.
“I am so happy for Cassidy, Dixie is a school that she really wanted to go to. They have her nursing major and that is awesome that she can play and continue with her nursing major”, she said.
Teammate guard Michelle Navarro was also very excited about Carrillo’s dream acceptance.
“I know this has been a goal of hers since she enrolled at Cerritos and she was very determined in her academics as well to motivate her,” she said.
Carrillo had a good work ethic to be able to reach her goal and dream school she has always wanted to sign to.
“She was constantly in the gym, whether working on perfecting her shot, or even just getting that extra workout in to be able to go that extra mile in the fourth quarter of the game,” Navarro said.
Welliver also believes that Carrillo had a very good work ethic.
“She is a player that continued working hard on all of her skills,” Carrillo said.
“She was an excellent outside shooter, she likes pressure, she was the MVP of the West Hills Tournament that we won. She was First Team All-Conference off the court, she has high academic goals.”
