SANTA ANA- Following her standout career at Santa Ana College, sophomore Anna Nguyen signed a National Letter of Intent to continue her academic and basketball careers at California State University, San Marcos.

Nguyen is coming off a stellar sophomore year that finished with her as the Orange Empire Conference's second leading scorer with 16.9 points per game, garnering her First-Team All-Orange Empire Conference honors.

On the season as a whole, Nguyen averaged a team-high 15.6 ppg while grabbing five rebounds per game. In her first season with the Dons, Nguyen averaged 9.7 ppg and 6.7 rpg with 48 steals while dishing out 28 assists.

The signing is the Dons seventh-straight season with at least one student-athlete signing to a four-year university. (2006, Ahkiah Hunter - Weber State. 2007, Whitney Ligon - CSU Northridge. 2008, Heather Couzens - Cal Baptist, Jamie Glover - Cascade. 2009, Danielle Leigh - Missouri Valley. 2010, Jessika Korzelius - Tiffin. 2011, Ashley Chavira - Montreat.)

"It makes us proud of our tradition to help our players move on," said Flo Luppani, Dons head coach. "It's been very rewarding to watch her grow as a young lady, an athlete and a student."

Nguyen, who will be pursuing a degree in kinesiology, said she is excited about playing at a higher level and meeting new people and teammates. She also added that Luppani taught her to "not crack under pressure. She toughened me up, I was a wimp."

While looking ahead to her next step, Nguyen admitted to a bit of motivation that has fueled her through her playing career.

"[Signing] makes me really proud because I proved my parents wrong," said Nguyen. "They didn't think I could play in college."

Nguyen has already shown she can play in college and will continue to do so with the Cougars who are coming off their Association of Independent Institutions championship while also qualifying for the NAIA National Championships.