A problem position on the court for the Northwest Missouri State women’s basketball team last season could become a strong point for the Bearcats.

Coach Gene Steinmeyer signed three players on national signing day, and he’s particular high on Gabby Curtis, who is expected to immediately provide some added punch at point guard.

The 5-foot-8 guard earned second-team, all-region honors at Cowley County (Kan.) Community College last season, averaging 12.5 points and 3.4 rebounds.

Curtis won a high school championship at Ganado, Ariz., in 2007 and also was the state’s 2007 Small School Player of the Year.

Whitney Rawdon, a 5-11 guard/forward from Eau Claire, Wis., and Ashley Thayer, a 5-8 shooting guard from Kansas powerhouse Bishop Miege, also signed this week.

The signings are sure to create some interesting competition at the point, where Amber Vandevender battled illness and injury through most of her senior season and redshirt freshman transfer Abby Henry struggled at times.

But Henry has had a good spring, and Steinmeyer expects her and Curtis to compete intensely for the starting spot.

Steinmeyer added that Thayer also has the ability to handle the point.

“It’s kind of the best of all worlds there, with Abby as a sophomore with experience, a proven junior-college transfer and a freshman from a good program,” Steinmeyer said.

Rawdon averaged nearly 10 points and four rebounds for the 20-2 North High School Huskies, earning first-team, all-conference accolades. Although she hails from Wisconsin, Rawdon has some Northwest Missouri ties. Her father, John and her mother, Tammy, played tennis at Northwest for coach Mark Rosewell, with her mother also enshrined in the Bearcat Hall of Fame in 2006 as a member of the 1987 women’s tennis team.

Steinmeyer never has seen Rawdon play in person — only on video — but it was clear that she was athletic, having been a high school standout in track and golf.

“It’s kind of the Forrest Gump thing — like a box of chocolates,” Steinmeyer said. “We’re not sure what we’re going to get.”

Thayer was a last-minute decision, said Steinmeyer, who saw her play on Saturday in an all-star game.

“I really liked what I saw,” Steinmeyer said. “She’s a pretty good 3-point shooter.”

Thayer averaged 10 points, three rebounds and three assists as a senior, leading the Stags to their second Kansas 5A State Championship in three seasons.

Northwest will have three more potential Bearcats for campus visits today. The team is expected to sign two more players during the next couple of weeks.

On the men’s side, Lafayette’s Bryston Williams this week became recently named head coach Ben McCollum’s first recruit.

McCollum had seen Williams play last summer and was impressed. However, he did not recruit Williams while he was assistant coach at Emporia State, since the Hornets had a full complement of guards returning.

Williams should play both the No. 1 and No. 2 positions for Northwest, which graduated only Hunter Henry. However, three roster positions opened up with the departure of guard DaJuan Harris and redshirt Blake Bales, who did not play this year because of a mysterious illness that left him too fatigued to participate in full workouts.

McCollum said about four more signings are expected over the next month before his roster is complete.

Sports reporter Rick Dunaway can be reached at rickd@npgco.com