Vicksburg basketball player Donyeah Mayfield trains regularly with a 25-pound weight vest, shooting a battery of jumpers to strengthen and hone her technique.

On Wednesday, Mayfield shed another weight, her college choice, as she signed her letter of intent with Montevall University in Alabama.

She picked Montevallo, a Division II school located between Montgomery and Birmingham that plays in the Peach Belt Conference, over Delta State, Northwestern State and several others.

Mayfield will play primarily on the wing at Montevallo, but will alternate between there and the power forward spot. She took an official visit with first-year coach Mechan Vanderpool, a former Delta State and Mississippi College assistant coach, and decided immediately that her search was over.

Vanderpool’s main recruiting pitch was that she wanted Mayfield and fellow signee Taylor Beverly of Northwest Rankin to be the building blocks to reconstruct a program that limped to a 65-101 record in five seasons. Both Mayfield and Beverly teamed up in AAU ball for the Memphis Bobcats.

“I liked the coaches, the school and the players,” Mayfield said. “She (Vanderpool) told me how they hadn’t won there and I wanted to go and change that.”

Last season, Mayfield averaged 15.7 points and 9.8 rebounds per contest and won The Vicksburg Post Player of the Year award in leading the Missy Gators to a 16-9 record.

Mayfield also made the 2009 all-county team as a sophomore, when she averaged nine points and 10 rebounds per game.

Mayfield missed the first two games of this season, but has been outstanding since getting back into the lineup this week.

She had 20 points and 11 rebounds in a 63-44 romp over Madison Central on Tuesday night, then had 23 points and 11 rebounds in a 57-51 victory over Provine on Thursday.

Against Provine, Mayfield showed her versatility by hitting a key 3-pointer in the fourth quarter and contributing three steals and a blocked shot on the defensive end.

“She’s going to go in and not be a freshman,” Vicksburg coach Barbara Hartzog said. “She’s going to go in, step up to the plate immediately. She’ll do as well as she wants to do. I think it’s a good choice for her because it gives her a chance to begin something.”