Mount Rainier High School basketball star Brittany McPhee faxes her letter of intent to Stanford on Wednesday morning.
DES MOINES — Right on cue, Brittany McPhee showed up in the library at Mount Rainier High School on Wednesday morning holding two important items.
One was a Stanford sweatshirt. The three-time SPSL North girls basketball player of the year was signing her national letter of intent to play for the Cardinal.
The other was a cookie sheet of raspberry scones. Per school tradition, an athlete signing an NCAA Division I scholarship was strongly advised to bring in breakfast goodies before the ceremony could begin.
The night before the biggest basketball moment of her life, McPhee and her father, Bryce, were baking.
"I helped," she said with a big smile.
In the past three seasons, McPhee has helped out Mount Rainier High School in a number of ways – primarily putting the Rams on the map of elite Northwest girls’ basketball programs.
"This has brought a lot of respect to our team, and our program and our school," Mount Rainier girls basketball coach Bob Bolam said. "It definitely hasn’t been me – I’ve just kind of gotten out of the way and let her play."
The non-football early signing period kicked off Wednesday, so this was McPhee's moment. She arrived well before the 7 a.m. signing ceremony.
Also in attendance was McPhee’s family, including her parents and twin sister, Jordan. Bolam and his coaching staff were also there as the star guard sat down at a table and inked her signature on the required paperwork.
From the main office, McPhee faxed her letter of intent to Stanford at 7:31 a.m. That is when she officially became a Cardinal.
"Really excited, I guess," McPhee said. "I slept well."
Stanford was one of a number of universities to contact McPhee, a 6-foot guard/forward, in September 2012. It wasn’t until Cardinal assistant coach Kate Paye showed up at the Class 4A state championships last March when things started to get serious.
“I’ve always wanted to go there since I saw them play when I was little,” McPhee said. “I didn’t know it was a reality until probably the state tournament until they were there watching me play.”
The Cardinal offered a scholarship in late June. And after McPhee finished up summer basketball in July, she sat down to decide among Stanford, Gonzaga and Nebraska as her final three schools.
In August, she gave an oral commitment to play for the Pac-12 Conference powerhouse.
McPhee joins power forward Kaylee Johnson (Natrona County High School in Wyoming) and fellow wing/off guard Taylor Rooks (Gill St. Bernard’s School in New Jersey) in the Cardinal’s class for 2014.
“She is going to one of the two best programs in the nation,” Bolam said. “It will challenge her. That is a good thing.”
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