Truman point guard Kierra Collier, a nationally-ranked recruit, signs with Washington

A couple of months before she began seventh grade, Truman point guard Kierra Collier experienced life without basketball for the first time. A serious knee injury forced her to miss an entire season.

“I would still go to the games and sit on the sideline, and I just hated it,” Collier said. “That’s when it hit me how much I loved to play.”

Over the course of the lost year, Collier decided that basketball would be a major piece of her future.

On Wednesday, she ensured it would be part of her college life, too.

Collier signed a letter of intent to play at Washington next season. A 5-6 point guard, she is the No. 55 recruit in the nation, according to ProspectsNation.com. She bypassed offers from a dozen schools, including Kansas and Kansas State, to instead travel to the West Coast.

“Growing up in the Midwest, I had a lot of people pushing for me to go somewhere close because they’re fans of those schools or they wanted to come watch me play. But I wanted to experience something different, and I love the city of Seattle,” Collier said.

Collier posted 22.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.3 steals and 2.5 assists per game as a junior last season.

This story was originally published November 9, 2016 at 4:33 PM with the headline "Truman point guard Kierra Collier, a nationally-ranked recruit, signs with Washington."