Gazette-Times reporter

One of LaVonda Wagner’s top priorities in this year’s recruiting class was to address the lack of height in the program, which had no starter taller than 6-foot-1 this past season.

That trend continued on Friday when 6-foot-4 center/forward Viki Wohlers of Conserve High School in Land O’ Lakes, Wis., announced she’s made an oral commitment to the Beavers. She expects to make it official during the late signing period, and join the program next season.

She is a native of Wolfenbuettel, Germany, who played at Lake Mary High School in Lake Mary, Fla., as a junior. As an exchange student, she was unable to play more than one season at Lake Mary, so she transferred to Conserve, a private, non-denominational boarding school in northern Wisconsin, just south of the border with Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

“I’m very excited and thrilled,” Wohlers said in a statement released by Conserve coach Cyndi Ellenberger announcing Wohlers’ decision. “The visit to Oregon State (on Feb. 17-18) was one of the highlights of my career.

“I loved everything about the campus, the players I met and coach Wagner and her staff. They treated me extremely well and it made my decision to come to OSU very easy.”

NCAA rules prohibit OSU coaches from commenting on recruits until they have received a signed letter of intent. The spring signing period opens April 11.

Wohlers, 18, averaged 24.8 points, 15.9 rebounds and 4.8 blocked shots for Conserve, which plays in Division 4, the smallest of Wisconsin’s four classifications. She was the team co-MVP, made the Northern Lake Conference’s all-star team, was all-state in Division 4, and was honorable mention all-state for all classifications.

A prospective business major, she will graduate in June with a 3.1 grade-point average and is fully qualified academically.

She has an excellent basketball background. Her father, Jurgen Wohlers, was the captain of the 1972 West German Olympic basketball team. Her older brother, Moritz Wohlers, played at Montana State and now plays professionally for the Scottish Phoenix Honda Rocks in Scotland.

Ellenberger described Wohlers as a “project” when she first arrive at Conserve from Lake Worth, which won the Florida Class 6A state championship in 2006. But she has progressed tremendously, helped in part by working with the Conserve boys program and 1-on-1 teaching from the men’s coach (Cyndi’s husband), former New Mexico head coach Norm Ellenberger.

“She did an amazing job of working on her game,” Cyndi Ellenberger said Friday in a telephone interview. “She definitely has some work to do to get stronger and better, but the potential is there.

“I think she can play limited minutes (as an OSU freshman),” and many more as she gains strength and experience. “She really runs well, handles the ball well, shoots hook shots left- and right-handed and can score many different ways.”

Wohlers also ran cross country. Cyndi Ellenberger compared her to an unpolished Brooke Smith, the 6-3 post from Stanford who has an effective hook shot and is an excellent passer.

According to the school’s website (www.conserveschool.org), “The Conserve School is a coeducational independent boarding high school for academically talented students in grades 9-12. The curriculum emphasizes the environment, ethics, and innovation.

“Students combine science, mathematics, technology, and communications skills to solve real ecological problems. Graduates are prepared to be sensitive leaders and stewards of natural resources.”

Wohlers will be the program’s sixth new player, and the seventh addition to this year’s team, which finished 9-19 overall and 4-14 in the Pac-10 after losing to Arizona in the first round of the Pac-10 tournament.

Wagner signed 6-4 post Alex Mitchell of Berkeley High in Berkeley, Calif.; 5-7 guard Kassandra McCalister of Archbishop Mitty High in San Jose; 6-0 guard Talisa Rhea of Juneau-Douglas High in Juneau, Alaska; and 6-3 forward Brittany Eskridge of Jack High in Mill Creek, Wash., in November.

Junior guard Brittney Davis of Jefferson High in Portland will be eligible next season; the 5-10 former all-stater sat out this year after transferring from Minnesota. And 6-3 forward Tiffany Ducker, a starter at OSU in 2005 and 2006, is expected to rejoin the team after missing this season for personal reasons.