RUSTON - For Midland College small forward Latosha Christmas, Friday's decision to sign a national letter of intent with Louisiana Tech was an easy one.

After all, the 5-foot-11-inch Christmas had made the same decision in November of 2001 prior to her senior season at Provine High School in Jackson, Miss.

However, after not academically qualifying out of high school, Christmas headed to Midland, where she is set to finish her second season with Ron Jones and the Lady Chaps prior to enrolling at Tech next summer.

"Tosha is a big strong guard or a small forward, whichever way you want to look at it, who can shoot the three," said Lady Techster head coach Kurt Budke. "She has long arms, is athletic and fits in very well with what we are trying to do with our team, both defensively and offensively. She can be very explosive."

During her first year at Midland, Christmas averaged 6.9 points and 2.9 rebounds per game, helping the Lady Chaps post a 31-6 record and third-place finish in the NJCAA national tournament.

Christmas said she never wavered on whether or not to sign again with the Techsters.

"I am happy that Louisiana Tech stayed with me," Christmas said. "After all I have faced, I just continued to work hard and now I'm going to be a Lady Techster. I've known I wanted to be a part of their program ever since I came to camp there in high school."

The 20-year-old is ranked No. 9 among junior college small forwards/wings in the latest issue of Michael White's All-Star Girls Report.

"When I went to the national tournament last year and watched her, there was no question that she was one of the top five players at the tournament," Budke said.

Christmas said she feels like her two years of junior college experience will make the transition to the upper Division I level easier.

"I think I've learned a lot from my experiences (the last two years)," Christmas said. "I've definitely gotten more physical. I've played some good competition and hopefully that will help me once I get to Tech."

Despite suffering a knee injury prior to her senior year in high school, Christmas helped lead head coach Barbara Hartzog and Provine to the Mississippi 4A State Championship title that season. After averaging 16.0 points, 8.2 rebounds and 3.0 steals per game as a senior, Christmas earned the Mississippi Gatorade Player of the Year Award.

"We signed her two years ago and placed her in a junior college hoping to get her back," Budke said. "She has done everything we've asked and there is not a nicer person in the world."

Christmas also earned first team all-metro and all-state honors as a senior while being named the 48th best high school senior by Blue Star Basketball.

In addition to Christmas, Budke said he plans to sign some junior college post players in the spring, although because of NCAA rules, he couldn't comment specifically on names.

"We're recruiting some very good junior college post players, but we have to play the waiting game," Budke said. "Very few junior college players sign in the early period. I never allowed mine to when I was at Trinity Valley."