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KENNESAW - It didn't take long for colleges to notice Jasmine Blain.

The 6-foot-1 North Cobb junior forward began to receive attention from Division I colleges in the eighth grade while playing for the Georgia Hoopstars travel team and has continued to be noticed during her outstanding three-year career with the Lady Warriors.

So, it's not that surprising that Blain's future on the collegiate level has already been determined as she committed to Georgia Tech right before the beginning of her junior season.

Blain is the first North Cobb girls basketball player to commit or sign with a Division I college since Alana Tanksley signed with South Florida in 2001.

Blain is certainly showing why Georgia Tech was so interested in her this season, averaging 18.1 points and a little more than seven rebounds a game to help lead a talented North Cobb squad to a 10-2 record, the best start for the Lady Warriors in years.

While Blain is excited about her future with Georgia Tech, she realizes she still has a season-and-a-half left of high school basketball to play.

"I like (Georgia Tech) a lot and I'm really excited about playing college basketball, but I can't take it for granted," Blain said. "I have to keep working hard and take it one step at a time, because if I don't, (Georgia Tech) could take it away from me."

North Cobb coach Matt Williams knew from the very beginning that Blain had what it takes to reach the college level.

"Jasmine is a very hard worker," Williams said. "I knew from the first time I saw her as a freshman that she was someone special. A lot of SEC schools have contacted her. She's been getting attention from some pretty big-name people."

Georgia was among the other colleges who were interested in Blain, along with Florida, North Carolina, Maryland, South Carolina, Miami and Baylor also expressing interest.

However, it was Georgia Tech that attracted Blain's interest the most from the beginning, with its engineering program being the biggest factor in her decision.

"I want to study engineering and I knew Georgia Tech had a good engineering program," Blain said. "I knew it would it would be the best place for my career."

Blain has steadily improved since entering the North Cobb starting lineup midway through her freshman season, averaging 7.7 points and 5.8 rebounds a game as a freshman in 2005-06 and 15.7 points and 8.0 rebounds a game as a sophomore last year.

Having worked hard on her shooting and defense in the offseason, Blain's has taken her game to an even higher level this season.

Blain showed how much she improved in North Cobb's 74-36 win over Columbia in the semifinals of the Century Bank Holiday Tournament in Cartersville, scoring 24 of her career-high 29 points in the first half.

Scoring is only one of the attributes of Blain's strong all-around game, according to Williams.

"She's a very good shooter - she's shooting about 60 percent from the field and 30 percent from (beyond) the 3-point line - but she can also rebound and pass the ball and she had really worked on her defense and ball-handling," Williams said. "She's a very versatile player."

Williams is just as impressed by the leadership qualities that Blain brings to the court.

"Jasmine works hard and she tries to get everyone else to work just as hard," he said.

Blain acknowledges her leadership role on the team.

"I try to get everybody into the game." Blain said.

While Blain has a college career at Georgia Tech to look forward to in a couple of years, her focus now is on helping North Cobb qualify for the state tournament for the first time since 1979.

"We've been playing very well," Blain said. "Everybody has been working hard and we want to continue to get better."

goshust@mdjonline.com

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