Cassandra Edwards Commits To University Of Albany

On July 20, 2012, Brampton, Ontario native Cassandra (Cassie) Edwards (5’11”, SG, A Game T-Dot, 2013) committed to become a University of Albany Great Dane. after she completes this, her final High School year.

Cassandra is a gritty Forward with good size, that doesn’t shy away from contact when attacking the rim.

Her AAU Coach, Yaw Afful, had nothing but high praise when describing Edwards’ ‘roll up her sleeves and put in work’ mindset. According to Afful, that’s exactly why he thinks she will be a good fit for the Great Dane program.

“I’m very happy for her. I think that it is a well deserved opportunity for this young lady. She’s earned it. She’s going to do well I believe, with her intangibles, and her hard work ethic that has been brought on by her mother and father. I believe that she’ll do very, very well,” said Afful.

To think that Edwards will blossom at such a program is high praise. Especially coming off the successes the University of Albany squad is coming off of last season with them winning the American East Conference last season, en route to a 14th Seed in last year’s NCAA Tournament. Albany’s Head Coach, Katie Abrahamson-Henderson, was the Conference’s Coach of the Year for 2012, so saying that she gets most out of her teams is an understatement. According to Afful, Edwards’ hard work will not only get noticed, but will earn her future Coach’s good graces.

“They are the defending American East Champions and I’ve known Albany’s Head Coach for a long time now and what she’s definitely about is hard work. She’s about earning what you get. She’s also someone that respects hard workers and people that look to win and fight to win. So, these intangibles are what got Albany there and I think it will continue to put Albany at a high level.”

Edwards was a standout on her Notre Dame (Brampton) High School squad and will look to do so again this upcoming season. She also shined brightly on a young Brampton Warriors JUEL team that will look to make serious noise this year as they stand to keep the nucleus of what should be an exciting team that should go deep. The commonality of playing with each of those teams and through the summer the ability to clean up loose rebounds, finish around the basket and be a thorn in the side of the Guards and Forwards she’s had to defend. It was a solid game play that got Cassie to this level of success. It will be more of it going forward that will dictate future success of this future Medical Sciences student.

“She has to continue to do whatever it takes to win. That’s the thing about Cassie: She gets that key rebound, she’ll put her body in harms way, she’s a good teammate and she will do what is asked of her. These are the intangibles that got her the looks and a lot of attention from other schools like Akron, University of Memphis, Penn State, just to name a few. Actually, I had just got off the phone with Nebraska’s head coach. He really enjoyed watching her compete and asked about her recruiting. So, these are the intangibles that obviously these teams have seen that…people don’t want to say it, but the reality is that a lot of kids don’t play to win, but Cassie is one of those kids that do.”