From Tommy Birch
Canada native Shantavia Dawkins watched Bridget Carleton's career from afar. Dawkins watched Carleton, a fellow Canadian, move to the United States, have a prolific career at Iowa State and move on to the WNBA.
After seeing it all unfold, Dawkins had a thought.
Why couldn’t that happen to her as well?
“The ultimate goal of course is the WNBA so to see her achieve goals like that and make it to the WNBA, that’s what interests me,” Dawkins said.
That’s why Dawkins, a 5-foot-10 guard from Brampton, Ontario, Canada, announced her commitment to the Iowa State women's basketball program on Friday. Dawkins, who plays for Southwest Basketball Academy, is a member of the class of 2022.
“She’s electric,” Southwest Basketball Academy coach Rob Angione said. “She does everything at a really high pace. She’s highly skilled. She can play the point. She can play off the ball. She can score in multiple ways. So, you’re getting a pretty dynamic, electric guard.”
That’s the type of player Carleton was. Carleton, who also hailed from Canada, went on to have one of the best basketball careers in Iowa State history, winning Big 12 Conference Player of the Year honors as a senior. She currently plays for the Minnesota Lynx.
It’s a path Dawkins wanted to take as well. So she picked Iowa State after receiving interest from a long list of schools including Pitt, Wake Forest, TCU, Ole Miss, Alabama, Iowa, Michigan and DePaul.
“I want to go down there and make a name for myself,’ Dawkins said..