ATLANTA (Nov. 13) – Two rising high school seniors have signed national letters of intent to play basketball in 2014 at Georgia State, women's head coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener announced during the start of the fall NCAA signing period.

The pair of NLI signees include (alphabetically):

Kennesha Nichols      5-11     Wing/Forward    Nashville, Tenn.     Ensworth High School

Makeba Ponder         5-8       Guard               Moultrie, Ga.         Colquitt County High School                    

Nichols enters her senior year at Nashville's Ensworth High School with more than 800 points and 400 rebounds. The sharpshooter was named to the Tennessee Sports Writers Association All-State team last year as a junior. She has been a two-time all-tournament pick at the DII-AA state championship. Nichols was a finalist for the DII-AA Miss Basketball Award for Tennessee. She also excelled with the Tennessee Flight Select AAU program.

"We are getting a good athlete and a fundamentally sound basketball player," said Baldwin-Tener.  "She can contribute from the inside-out and we are excited she chose Georgia State. Kennesha can dribble, pass and shoot, sees the floor well and has obviously been well-coached. She is the type of player who makes others around her better. Her size will let her play the wing or forward and she can score in the paint or step out and make a 3-pointer.”

Ponder heads into her senior campaign already having scored 1,000 points after averaging 20.9 points per game in 2012-13 at Moultrie High School in southern Georgia. The ball handler also averaged four assists per game in being named to the GACA All-State second team during her junior year. Ponder has been a two-time Region I-AAAAAA Player of the Year in the state's highest division. Playing with the Georgia Metros AAU team, Ponder was on the 2013 AAU Silver Nike National Champions team.

“Makeba comes from a great high school program with good coaching,” Baldwin-Tener said. “We are excited about all the things she will bring to our program. She has the ability to get the ball in the basket in many ways and is a top-flight scorer and a good shooter. She comes from a winning tradition and understands the effort that goes into being the best. She is a team player and makes others on her team better as a result.”

Georgia State begins its first year in the Sun Belt Conference and has just one senior on this year's team, so this pair of recruits will be joining a deep team when the report in the summer of 2014.