---

Chisago Lakes senior Whitney Tinjum briefly opened her recruiting back up before making another decision -- she's going West.

The star basketball player committed to Washington State University after previously committing to the University of Wisconsin as a junior.

The switch came after Wisconsin Head Coach Lisa Stone, whom Tinjum had made her commitment was fired after the Badgers finished 16-15 during the 2010-11 season. "I waited to see who their new coach was going to be, and we visited, but she had never seen me play," Tinjum said. "She was very nice, but we just decided that it wouldn't work out."

In the Cougars, Tinjum joins a team that hasn't had a terrible amount of success recently, as they have back-to-back eight win seasons at 8-23 and 8-22, but Tinjum says they are on the up-and-up and the school is wonderful. "It's a beautiful campus, and I just loved the setting," she said. "I had a great connection with the team and the coaches."

In fact, Tinjum liked the school so much that she cancelled two other official visits she had later in the month after her visit to Washington State. She's also excited about the competition in the Pac-12 Conference and the warm weather travel in the middle of winter.

Tinjum also believes that with hard work and improvement that she could see some early playing time. She said they only have one girl on the roster at her position, and the incoming freshman class is guard heavy while Tinjum is going to be a forward in college.

---