New head coach Jenteal Jackson secured the commitment of 5-foot-8 scorer Kendra Parra, which Parra announced Monday on Instagram.

Parra joins Weber State after three seasons at Division II Metro State (Denver). She led the 15-team Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in scoring last season at 18.3 points per game while shooting 44% from the field, 40% from the 3-point line and 88% on free throws.

Parra’s career free-throw percentage of 88.2% is Metro State’s all-time program best and was the Division II national career best among active players.

The psychology major felt a new experience would be best for her career.

Darral Freund, MSU Denver Athletics

“It was kind of a complex thing … I just felt like I needed a new home and in terms of my basketball career, getting out of Denver, experiencing something new and playing for a different coach, I felt that I needed to do that,” Parra said.

“As soon as I got in the portal, Coach Jackson texted me and was like ‘I’m so excited, I’m so happy … I want you to come here.’ I played against Coach Jackson for the last three years at Metro so I kind of knew her style of basketball and I wanted to play for her.”

Parra had conversations with several Big Sky teams, she said, but Jackson and a previous connection to fellow Colorado native Cydney McHenry, now a WSU assistant, made Weber State an easy choice.

Parra says she was a five-sport athlete growing up, which included volleyball, cross country, basketball, soccer and playing catcher and second base for her high school baseball team.

For her career, Parra has averaged 12.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists over 74 games (69 starts) and has 920 career points. She has two seasons left to play for Weber State.

Darral Freund, MSU Denver Athletics

Parra gives WSU 13 of 16 players who will be seniors or juniors. Among nine returners and seven new players for Jackson, the Wildcats will have six fifth-year seniors.

Two weeks ago, Jackson added her first freshman recruit in Amanda Edwards, a 5-foot-9 left-hander who has scored 15 points per game in three straight seasons for San Juan Hills High School in San Juan Capistrano, California. She shot 37% from 3 and 80% from the free-throw line as a senior.

The roster fills out as follows, by class:

SENIORS: Sierra Davis, Daryn Hickok, Jadyn Matthews, Vicky Parra, Rita Satini, Laura Taylor

JUNIORS: Ashton Adamson, Aaliyah Ellis, Kennedy Eskelson, Charlotte Hegvold, Kaiija Lesane, Emri Lovell, Kendra Parra

Photo supplied, FIBA

SOPHOMORE: Amelia Raidaveta

FRESHMEN: Amanda Edwards, Taylor Smith

Jackson has also added Alli Blake, a former local prep standout, to her bench as a graduate assistant coach.

Blake is a Kaysville native and former Davis High player who played at Salt Lake Community College and later became the Frontier Conference player of the year as a senior at Westminster College in 2014. Blake averaged 15.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game that season while taking third in the NAIA by shooting 56.1% from the field.

Blake was an assistant coach at Westminster from 2014-17 and has been a marketing project manager for the last six years.

Jackson said her final full-time assistant coach has been selected and her hire should be official in the coming days. Jackson has already brought in Hillary Carlson, an Air Force assistant and former Wyoming forward, and Cydney McHenry, who coached on Jackson’s bench at Westminster.

MEN’S FRESHMEN ON NATIONAL DUTY

While most Weber State men’s basketball players have been with the team for summer workouts, two incoming freshmen are still in Europe fulfilling duties to their national teams.

Big man Marko Sarenac made the final roster for Serbia’s U19 World Cup team. The 6-foot-10 forward totaled 11 points, eight rebounds and five assists in 16.7 minutes per game off the bench in three group-stage games. He was plus-22 in the plus-minus ledger and shot 4 of 8 from the field as Serbia went 3-0 to win its group, defeating Brazil, Egypt and Japan.

Serbia opened the knockout stage with a 115-83 victory over Korea in the round of 16 on Wednesday. Sarenac totaled six points, two assists, one rebound and one steal, totaling a plus-22 in 15 minutes.

Friday’s quarterfinal brought pain against France as Serbia struggled to score for most of the game in a lopsided 98-59 decision.

Sarenac totaled eight points, seven rebounds, one steal and one block in 14 minutes. He made one 3-pointer, one two-pointer and shot 3 of 3 at the foul line during the loss.

The FIBA U19 World Cup is being held in Hungary.

Meanwhile, 6-foot-6 combo guard Viljami Vartiainen, another WSU signee, has practiced with Finland’s top national team and will play for his country’s U20 team in Division B of the FIBA European Championship. Vartiainen recently scored 18 points to lead Finland in a blowout exhibition win over Great Britain.

Group phase for the U20 European Championship Division B, held in North Macedonia, begins July 7. Finland will play Switzerland, Latvia, Albania and The Netherlands in group play. Eight of 20 teams advance to the knockout stage, which starts July 14.