Iowa Women's Basketball offers quickly rising 2025 guard Bella Hines
New Mexico probably isn’t the first state that comes to mind when you think about recruiting for women’s college basketball, but class of 2025 guard Isabella Hines out Eldorado High School in Albuquerque is a name that is quickly growing in popularity. Lisa Bluder and the Iowa coaching staff extended an offer to Hines back on July 11th.
“I always have been a huge Iowa fan. Love the style of play, the culture and I’m beyond blessed to have received an offer from Iowa,” said Hines. “Definitely planning on visiting sometime this fall.”
She is rated as a four-star prospect per the ESPN class of 2025 rankings and comes in as the #23 overall recruit in the country, as well as the #12 guard prospect. Prep Girls Hoops rates her as the #1 player in the state of New Mexico. Hines is the first player from New Mexico to be ranked in the ESPN Top 100 since Amaya Brown (#99) back in 2018.
Over the past couple of months, the recruitment of the 5-foot-10 guard has picked up some steam with offers coming in from high-major schools like Arizona, Georgia, Oklahoma State, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Auburn, Texas A&M, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, California and Houston. Most of that has come due to her play this summer with CyFair Elite, an AAU squad based in Houston, Texas. She was recently named to the Aqua Division All-Tournament Team at the National Championship in Orlando.
“It’s been great, especially getting to meet all of these new coaches and getting to take in what they all have to say is really amazing,” said Hines on her recent group of offers. “I’m blessed to be able to go through this amazing process.”
Her offer list has ballooned to 33, with Utah, Kansas State, West Virginia, Florida State, Alabama, BYU, Texas Tech, Arizona State, TCU, SMU, Cincinnati, Colorado State, New Mexico, New Mexico State, San Francisco, North Texas, UAB, UTEP, UTSA and Delaware State rounding out the list.
“I’ve been talking to a few other schools that haven’t offered yet, but so far I have a few visits set and I’m trying to figure out dates for me to come check out Iowa.”
As a sophomore last season for the Eldorado Eagles, Hines averaged 30.0 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.4 steals per game. They lost in the first round of the playoffs to eventual state champion Volcano Vista, but Hines finished with 27 points and 8 rebounds. She scored a season-hight 51 points in a win over West Mesa late in the season and ultimately was named Max Preps New Mexico High School Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
“My three-point shot is definitely my strength, but something I’m still working on. I just want to get more consistent…I woud say I’m a three-level scorer, but love to score around the three-point line and (I) will definitely bring the energy.”
In a recent article for the Albuquerque Journal, Hines said that she would like to potentially make a college decision by early 2024. She mentioned that Iowa and Alabama are amongst her top choices, but said “I know what my top five is”.
