#SigningStories: Ashlyn Sage

Ashlyn Sage | G | 6-2 | Weatherford, Okla. | #84 In Class (Premier Basketball Rankings)

Her Signing Story, as told by Coach Neighbors: 

We are accustomed to phone calls from players’ coaches. We are accustomed to phone calls from area alumni. We are accustomed to phone calls from family members. But a high school teammate of mine, turned pastor? Now that is something I didn’t have a lot of experience with. So, I made a mental note of her name – Ashlyn Sage – and finished the phone call. I then promptly forgot to write her name down. Did I mention my age? It happens.

Fast forward to the next summer, where we are in a suffocatingly hot gym in Frisco, Texas, perched in folding chairs along a baseline to catch Rylee Langerman and her Oklahoma Swarm team play. Rylee, who was also a recruit at the time, was playing point guard, and she had a special connection with one of her teammates. The duo kept finding each other open for threes, kept playing the give-and-go game. They also helped each other defensively. As a result, their team pulled a major upset. Since Rylee was already in our sights, I hadn’t though to look at the names of other players on the roster. So, while at lunch that day, I kept asking Coach Love to find out more about Rylee’s teammate. I told her she simply made everyone on the court better. She cared about winning. She listened to her coaches. She had great length on the perimeter, and I swear, every time she shot the ball, I thought it was going in, even from long, long range. After lunch, we went to separate gyms, but I told Coach Love to check her roster for the name. At about the halfway point of my next game, I got the text: Ashlyn Sage. Turns out Pastor James had an eye for talent after all.

I immediately called Rylee’s parents, RJ and Melissa Langerman, to confirm my suspicion – that Ashlyn was just as good of a kid as she was a basketball player. A few phone calls with Ashlyn and a family trip over the border for a football game later, and we were convinced. Ashlyn needed to be a Razorback.

The Accolades: VYPE Top 100 (2020, 2019) | Tulsa World Top Players (2020) | State Qualifier (2020) | All-Conference (2020, 2019, 2018) | Led Oklahoma in 3PT% and FT% (2020)

The Coaches: Jim Perinovic, Oklahoma Swarm | Grant Givens, Weatherford High School