Bartlett's Carlson to San Jose State

At the end of the 2009-10 girls basketball season, Bartlett junior Christina Carlson started drawing some interest from Division I San Jose State University.

A productive summer on coach Elliott Whitefield's Full Package AAU team has now turned into a scholarship for Carlson.

The Hawks' 6-foot forward made it official this past weekend when she made her official visit to San Jose and gave coach Pam DeCosta a verbal commitment to play for the Spartans the next four years.

Carlson becomes Bartlett's second Division I recruit this season, following the commitment made by Jacki Gulczynski to Wisconsin recently.

“I liked everything, said Carlson of San Jose State. “I really liked the coaches and the players. The school is cool and everything worked out perfectly.

“They're defense-oriented and they like to run the ball so it will be similar to Bartlett.

Carlson will return for her fourth season on the Bartlett varsity, a team that is coming off a 21-10 season that ended in the sectional finals and has all but one player returning. Playing through injuries much of the season, Carlson averaged 6.8 points per game last season and was the team's second leading rebounder with a 5.6 average.

“I'm very excited for Christina, said Bartlett coach Denise Sarna. “I know she was real excited about making her trip out there. She's a very hard worker. I'm really glad she had a good summer and was able to show her potential. Obviously San Jose saw what they wanted in her. And she's a great student.

Carlson is ranked 36th in her class of over 600 and carries a 4.3 GPA on a 4.0 scale. She said she'll study psychology at San Jose.

She also agreed it will be nice to play her senior season with the knowledge her college recruiting is done.

“It's definitely a big thing off my shoulders, she said.

San Jose State, a member of the Western Athletic Conference, has struggled under fourth-year coach DeCosta. The Spartans are 11-79 in her three seasons, including 6-23 last season.

NCAA rules prohibit coaches from commenting in recruits until after they receive the student-athlete's National Letter of Intent. The early signing period for this year's seniors is from Nov. 10-17.