A Riverland basketball player has found a new place to play next season, and it comes with some perks.

In a Wednesday press conference at Riverland Community College, Brooke Monson, a 6-foot, 1-inch sophomore from Austin, announced she has signed a letter-of-intent to play basketball and attend Minot State University in North Dakota next fall.

Monson will have a basketball scholarship at MSU and she is the first Blue Devil under head coach Suzy Hebrink to sign with a Division II school. In the past, Riverland has sent three players to Division III schools.

Monson is pumped to be heading to a school that features an arena that holds about 10,000 fans and has a jumbotron.

“Their facilities are very nice and it’s kind of like being in the big time,” she said. “Their basketball program is real good and Criminal Justice is one of their big majors and I want to be a parole officer.”

Monson, who averaged 20 points and 10.3 rebounds on 52 percent shooting for the Blue Devils last season, said she had hoped to transfer to a four-year school from the moment she came to Riverland.

“(MSU) likes that I have a college experience instead of coming straight out of high school,” Monson said.

Hebrink said Monson’s signing shows what kind of players are at the Junior College level.

“There’s so many really good athletes around here and it’s big for us (to have her sign),” she said.

Monson will step right into an MSU squad that was headed to the final four last season before the Beavers had a game winning basket waived off five minutes after an apparent victory in the NAIA quarterfinals.

Monson hopes to be able to use her jump shot a little more at MSU.

“They said they allow their posts and forwards to shoot threes,” she said. “I get to do that every once in awhile here, but they encourage it. Hopefully we’ll see (me shooting threes) this year (for Riverland), but one air ball and I’m done.”

The signing allows Monson to focus on her upcoming season without having to worry about scouts.

“Knowing that people are coming to watch you play makes it hard for an athlete,” Hebrink said. “To not have that pressure is good and she can just worry about her role on the court.”

Perhaps the only drawback for the Austin native is that she will be about a 10-hour drive away from her hometown.

“I’m gonna miss my family and friends and all the people in Austin that have supported me and the other girls throughout high school and college,” she said.

The Blue Devils will host their alumni games Saturday at 1 p.m. at Riverland Gym.

ABOUT MSU

Minot State University’s women’s basketball team qualified for the NAIA National Tournament in 2006, 1998, and 1998. The Beavers were in the elite eight in 2004 and 2008. The team was 20-11 last season.

The Beavers play in the MSU Dome, witch has a capacity of 10,000 and is the largest arena in the Dakota Athletic Conference and the third largest arena in the Tri-State area of Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

Minot, N.D. is approximately 610 miles from Austin.