MOORHEAD, Minn. — Minnesota State University Moorhead head women's basketball coach Karla Nelson has announced the signing of five recruits for the 2020-21 season.

Signing NLI with MSUM include Lydia Hay of Maple Grove, Minn.; Karley Motschenbacher of Moorhead; Rylie Polomny of Moorhead; Lily Tennyson of St. Michael, Minn., and Paige Thompson of Hawley, Minn.

"We have added five, young women who excel in everything they do. We love the size and athleticism that we are adding to our team with this class," Nelson said. "They all have a very high skill level on the court and have a great work ethic in the classroom. They are only going to get better throughout their senior year and then our staff cannot wait to help grow their games."

Here's a glance at the recruiting class.
Lydia Hay (G, 6-0, Maple Grove, Minn./Wayzata HS)
Three-year letterwinner in basketball at Wayzata HS which finished 26-3 a year ago…played for AAU Crossfire for four years…listed as a Super 100 Senior by The Breakdown Sports Media.
Coach Nelson: "Lydia is very athletic and has the ability to play inside or out. She has a sweet stroke from the outside, can handle the ball, good court vision and  then has the ability to post up. Her versatility from the perimeter and post position is a great skill set to add to our team."

Karley Motschenbacher (G, 5-8, Moorhead, Minn./Park Christian HS)
Enters senior year with 1,808 career points, 705 career rebounds and 600 career steals…averaged 24.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game as a junior…two-time conference MVP…all-conference twice…four-year letterwinner in basketball.
Coach Nelson: "We can remember Karley coming to our camps as a third grader and now she's a Dragon, pretty cool that she chose to stay in town and chose our program to play for. Karley is an athletic point guard with great speed in the open court. Defensively, she is very hard-nosed and will not back down from anyone. Karley will help us tremendously on both sides of the ball."

Rylie Polomny (G, 5-7, Moorhead, Minn./Moorhead HS)
Shot 50.8 percent from the field, including 54.2 percent from three, as a junior…has earned MVP, Miss Hustle and Most Improved honors…has 709 career points entering senior year….four-year letterwinner in basketball…also lettered in track and cross country…both parents are MSUM alums…father, Mike is a member of MSUM Athletics Hall of Fame.
Coach Nelson: "Rylie has a bulldog mentality, who will always play hard and bring the grittiness that we love to the floor. We love the fact that she is a combo guard who can handle it if need be, but primarily play the off guard position. Rylie is very excited to be able to stay in town & compete in front of her family!"

Lily Tennyson (G, 5-11, St. Michael, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville HS)
All-conference as a junior…team captain for upcoming year…career high with 31 points and has shot 47 percent from the field…four-year letterwinner…played for North Tartan AAU team for five years.
Coach Nelson: "Lily's ability to shoot the ball will open things up for our post players. She gives us an athletic, big guard who has worked very hard to improve her game to the rim. Her game is still evolving and she is only going to keep getting better."

Paige Thompson (F, 6-3, Hawley, Minn./Hawley HS)
All-conference three years in basketball…surpassed 1,000 career points….averaged 19.9 points, 19.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game as a junior…state participant in track…also all-conference in volleyball and state participant in track.
Coach Nelson: "Paige is a prototypical 4 for our program in her ability to post and shoot the three with a little bit of everything mixed in between. She's following a long line of successful Hawley Nugget post players in our program & we can't wait see what she can do in a Dragon uniform."