Chloe Rice commits to Saint Louis

MARION — What's a Billiken? It's a charm doll, a mythical good-luck figure.

Who's a Billiken? Chloe Rice.

A junior guard at Marion High School, Rice has orally committed to play women's basketball at Saint Louis University. She shared the news with SLU Coach Lisa Stone on Saturday.

'Since the first time I talked to Coach, I knew it would be a good fit for me,' Rice said Sunday night.

'She is a good lady. My visit there went really well. It felt right, right away.'

A first-team all-stater last season, Rice led Marion to the Class 4A state semifinals. This year, she is averaging 18.6 points per game (tops in the Metro), and the 4A second-ranked Indians are 9-0.

Rice also is posting 4.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.2 steals per contest. She is shooting 52.7 percent from the floor, 81.1 percent from the free-throw line.

She visited Saint Louis the weekend before Christmas, and picked SLU over North Dakota State, North Dakota and Iowa.

A former Drake coach who led the Bulldogs to the Sweet 16 in 2002, Stone is in her fifth year at Saint Louis. She guided the Billikens to their first Atlantic 10 regular-season championship last year.

SLU is 11-3 this season.

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