Skylights land Jefferson High hoops standout

The Montana State University-Northern Skylights return to the hardwood this week. But Northern head coach Chris Mouat is also building for the future.

Mouat has announced the signing of Rachel Van Blaricom to join the Skylight program next fall. Van Blaricom is a 5-9 senior guard from Jefferson County High School in Boulder.

To date, Van Blaricom has scored 999 points for the Panthers, which puts her 189 away from breaking the all-time scoring record at Jefferson High. She has 406 rebounds, 159 assists, and 234 steals for her career, and averaged 15 points, 6 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and nearly 4 steals per game over the past three-plus seasons. Last season, she scored a career-high 37 points in a game.

"Rachel is a very good addition to our program and university," Mouat said. "She is a talented athlete with a very high ceiling, and she is an outstanding student, carrying a 4.0 grade point average. I like her toughness and the fact that she can play a number of positions on the floor. She has improved her perimeter shooting a ton since her freshman season, and has become a player that can score from the 3-point line, in mid-range, and at the rim."

Van Blaricom is a two-time Class B All-State basketball selection. She also excelled on the volleyball court, where she was also a First-Team All-State selection in volleyball this past season, helping the Panthers to a runner-up finish at the State Class B Volleyball Tournament.

Rachel is the senior class vice president and has been a member of the National Honor Society for three years. She has been a four-time Academic All-State honoree in both basketball and volleyball.

"We are really excited about Rachel and her future as a student-athlete at MSU-Northern," Mouat said. "She has done great things at Jefferson County High School, and is a very strong in-state addition to our program."

Van Blaricom is the daughter of Clint and Desiree Van Blaricom. She plans on majoring in biology at MSU-Northern.