By Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

It took a lot of things for Mary Crompton to earn her reputation as one of the best shooters in the state.

Crompton needed a lot of practice, a lot of work, a lot of effort and most of all a lot of time to become an all-state player, a 1,000-point scorer and one of the most accurate shooters in Iowa.

A tireless worker that spends hours in the gym and is known to be meticulous about her craft, it only seemed fitting that Crompton put as much time into selecting her basketball future as she does attempting to perfect the sport.

“I knew that this was a very important decision in my life and I didn’t want to take it lightly,” Crompton said of the recruiting process. “I definitely made sure I had all the information I could get about the schools that were recruiting me so that I could put everything together to make the best decision I could.”

Following a review of her recruiting options as thorough as one of her workouts Crompton made her college decision on Tuesday giving a verbal commitment to Illinois State.

Crompton has had college coaches courting her since averaging 11.2 points while shooting 45 percent from 3-point range as a freshman two years ago.

The sharpshooting guard was as comprehensive in her evaluation of colleges as they were in recruiting her.

Crompton visited Illinois State three times before announcing her commitment on Tuesday, taking regular trips to the campus in Normal, Illinois.

“The first time I went before the team was there in the summer and the coaches took me around the campus and I talked to them and the second time the team was there so I really got to know all of them and I stayed with one of the players,” Crompton explained. “The last time I wanted to see Illinois State from a student’s point of view so I just went to the academic tour and didn’t even think about basketball.”

Crompton took her time with the recruiting process but Illinois State acted quickly.

Kristen Gillespie was hired as head coach on April 4 and offered Crompton shortly after seeing her play for the All Iowa Attack at a spring AAU event.

“Coach Gillespie took the job just before the spring viewing period and saw me in the spring and immediately started recruiting me,” Crompton said. “They came on a little later in the process.”

Illinois State quickly became a regular at Crompton’s AAU games and established itself as front-runner in her recruitment.  

“I really believe in the coaches at Illinois State and I know they really believe in me,” Crompton said. “They didn’t miss an entire AAU game all summer long so I knew that they were really interested in me and they have already talked about ways that I am going to fit into their program.”

Crompton is coming off one of the best seasons in Regina history.

The 5-foot-8 guard earned first-team all-state honors last season as a junior when she averaged 18 points and set single-season school records for points (487), free throw percentage (88.2), 3-pointers (76) and 3-point percentage (47.2).

A career 15.1 point per game scorer, Crompton owns a career 3-point percentage of 46 percent and has never shot worse than 45 percent in a season.

Crompton is also a career 84 percent free throw shooter and has helped Regina to a 72-6 record and three consecutive trips to the state tournament.

“I think that overall as a school it was everything I was looking for,” Crompton said of Illinois State. “Their basketball program, my connection with the coaches and the team and everything that it can provide for me academically.”
Illinois State went 8-23 last season including a 4-14 record in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Crompton joins AAU teammate Lexy Koudelka as an Illinois State commit after the Nevada senior pledged to the Redbirds this summer.

“Something that I really liked about them was I would have long conversations about what I would work on once I was there and different drills I would do and different areas I could improve on once I was there,” Crompton said. “I just really liked how they seemed invested in me both as a player and as a person.”