May 20, 2014
Inside LMU Women's Basketball | LMU on Facebook |
LOS ANGELES - Providing a much needed boost in the post, third-year LMU women's basketball Head Coach Charity Elliott has announced the signing of Serbian native Tamara Jovanovic.
The 6-3 forward hails from Belgrade, Serbia, where she recently graduated from Third Belgrade High School, as well as the music school, Kornelije Stankovic.
"We are very excited to have Tamara join the LMU women's basketball family," said Elliott. "She will be an excellent fit with our team, both on and off the court. She brings height, athleticism, and a passion for success.
"She comes from a great basketball family and her knowledge of the game is so good for her age," Elliott added. "Tamara is also a very committed student who is going to bring a commitment to excellence to the classroom and to the court. We are thrilled to have her commit to LMU and we cannot wait to get her here!"
For the past six years, Jovanovic has competed for the Red Star, a highly-regarded women's basketball club in Serbia. Over the past two years, the club has won silver and gold medals at the Junior National Championships of Serbia.
Jovanovic comes from a family with strong basketball ties. Her father played professionally in Europe for 15 years while her brother Nikola won back-to-back Serbian championships with the Serbian KK Partizan Junior Team and will be a sophomore at USC in 2014-15.
Fluent in Serbian, English and French, Jovanovic also speaks Italian and Spanish. She graduated from Third Belgrade High School in the top 99-percentile. She is also an accomplished pianist and, in the summer of 2013, took part in a volunteer program at NURDOR Serbia - a national organization formed by parents who have kids with cancer.
Jovanovic joins Deshka Olson, Makenzie Cast, Nkechi Ilang and Breanna Alford who all committed to LMU in November 2013, as the Lions' 2014 recruiting class.
