Rocky Mount senior forward Dyonna Battle will be taking her game to the next level.
On April 15, she is expected to sign a letter-of-intent to play basketball for Queens University in Charlotte. Queens, a D-II school, is a member of the Conference Carolinas Conference, which calls Barton College and Mount Olive College home.
Battle had an outstanding career at RMHS - finishing as the school's No. 3 girls' basketball scorer with 1,290 points. Only all-staters Kim Taylor and Danielle Powell finished ahead of her.
She was a four-time NEW 6 Conference All-Conference selection and was the league's MVP in 2008. She was the league's tournament MVP last month. Battle, who led the league in scoring this past season with a 16.6 avearge and hauled down 6.6 rebounds a game, helped Rocky Mount to successive NEW 6 regular season and tournament titles.
Her last two games of her career were truly memorable. Both in the NCHSAA playoffs, she scored a combined 56 points - including a career-high 31 points against Havelock in the second round. In those two contests, she was 23-for-23 at the free throw line. She finished the season shooting 81 percent from the charity stripe.
The Royals went 15-13 this past season under head coach Trudi Lacey, the former All-American player from N.C. State.
Her family and friends will get to see her play at least twice each season when Queens comes east to Wilson and Mount Olive.