MSU-Northern women's basketball signs NCJAA transfer

College basketball isn’t that far off. And Montana State University-Northern women’s head coach Chris Mouat is gearing up for the upcoming season with additions to his Skylight roster.

Mouat has announced the signing of Jalen Callender, a 5-9 guard/forward from Caldwell, Idaho. Callender recently finished a three-year stint at The College of Southern Idaho, one of the top NJCAA programs in the country.

“We are really looking forward to having Jalen in a Skylight uniform. She is coming from a great program at Southern Idaho. What Coach Rogers has done there speaks for itself, so any time we can get a player from a program like that we are going to be happy,” Mouat said.

Callender averaged 2.8 points and 1.1 rebounds per game for the Golden Eagles, helping them to a 30-3 overall record and an appearance in the NJCAA Division I National Tournament. They finished the regular season ranked 9th in the nation.

As a freshman in 2019-2020, Callender averaged 4.4 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. As a true freshman, she was a regular starter until suffering a season-ending injury. She shot 35 percent from the three-point line and 44 percent from the field. She sat out the 2020-20201 season while rehabilitating.

Mouat continued, “I really think Jalen is a diamond in the rough. She was off to a great start to her career and went through a tough injury. None of her stats are going to jump off of the page, mostly because of the number of quality players on her team. They are just a really, really good program.”

Callender, a 2018 graduate of Caldwell High School, is one of the most decorated players in school history. She was the 2018 Southern Idaho Conference 4A Player of the Year and was picked to play on the Metro All-Stars, a team comprised of Idaho’s top players who meet to take on top teams from other regions in Idaho. She was a First Team All-State player twice and was an Honorable Mention selection once. She helped lead her team to a runner-up finish in the 2018 Idaho 4A State Tournament.

Mouat added, “We are excited about Jalen because she is a skilled offensive player who can hurt you on the perimeter, off of the dribble, and from the three-point line. Defensively, she gets after it and will bring a lot to what we do. She has a huge upside and we are excited to get her on campus. She comes from a basketball family, with her mother being a coach and her father having a very successful playing career. She knows what it takes to win and we couldn’t be happier about getting her on board as a student and an athlete at MSU-Northern. We recruited two of her teammates and both talked about her leadership abilities as well as the kind of teammate she is. We got better today.”

Callender is the daughter of Rebecca Callender and the late Mantia Callender. Her father played professionally in six countries.

Jalen plans on majoring in Integrated Health Sciences at MSU-Northern.