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Jersey Wolfenbarger is staying home.

Despite offers from some of the best women’s basketball programs in the country, the five-star recruit from Fort Smith Northside announced her decision to play for Arkansas on Monday.

The Razorbacks gave Wolfenbarger her first offer following her freshman season and she has since become one of the biggest recruits in the country - literally and figuratively. As she’s grown from 5-foot-8 to 6-foot-4, teams like UConn, Baylor, Tennessee, Notre Dame and others have extended offers.

Landing a commitment from such a highly recruited player is huge for head coach Mike Neighbors’ continued revitalization of the Razorbacks’ program, which would have included a trip to the 2020 NCAA Tournament had it not been for the coronavirus pandemic.

Ranked the No. 18 overall prospect in the Class of 2021 by ESPN, Wolfenbarger was named the Gatorade Arkansas Girls Basketball Player of the Year as a junior. She beat out a trio of top-60 seniors signed with major programs - Fayetteville’s Sasha Goforth (No. 21, Oregon State), Nettleton’s Elauna Eaton (No. 38, Arkansas) and Jonesboro’s Destiny Salary (No. 57, Tennessee) - to win the award.

Entering the Class 6A state tournament, she was averaging 18.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.5 steals. Although her scoring was down slightly, Wolfenbarger’s other numbers were up from the previous year, when she averaged 22.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.3 steals.

As a sophomore in 2018-19, Wolfenbarger was an all-state selection and was named the MVP of the state tournament after scoring 23 points in the championship game - including a running jumper just before the buzzer to lift Northside to a 36-34 win over Bentonville.

The aforementioned Arkansas offer came on the heels of a freshman campaign in which she - along with teammate and Oklahoma State commit Tracey Bershers - became one of the first two ninth graders to play up on the varsity squad in school history.

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