Halea Eaton (center), a senior at Norwich High School, signs her National Letter of Intent to play at LeMoyne College for the next four years. LeMoyne is a NCAA Division-II program located in Syracuse. Eaton was joined by her Norwich head coach Josh Bennett, parents Dennis and Melissa Eaton and BNY Select coach Mike Constantine at the table while signing in front of a room full of peers, family members and school staff. (Evening Sun Photo, Meagan Schulz)

NORWICH – The hard work and dedication to the sport that Norwich senior Halea Eaton has put in over the years has now paid off as she officially signed her National Letter of Intent to play NCAA Division-II basketball at LeMoyne College in Syracuse.

“When I think about Halea [Eaton] achieving this goal of getting herself an athletic scholarship to play college basketball, the one thing that really comes to mind immediately is she is a self-made player,” said Norwich girls basketball head coach Josh Bennett. “Halea is very talented and she is an incredible person in terms of character and integrity.

“In 13 years of coaching and 30 years of being around sports, I have never seen anyone put in the work and the effort that Halea did in order to achieve this.”

Eaton fell in love with the sport of basketball at a very young age and was determined to play at the next level ever since. She started with organized basketball through the Norwich Family YMCA recreational league before moving on to the Travel Team. In fifth grade, Eaton played with the sixth grade team.

After being a member of the team, coached by her dad Dennis Eaton and Tim Thompson, the now Norwich senior moved on to play one year of modified and a season of junior varsity before becoming a four-year varsity starter under Bennett.