Northern Nash point guard Ally Stephenson wants to return to the basketball court.

And she will, perhaps as soon as the end of this year, at Meredith College.

Stephenson, who played basketball for the Knights for four seasons, and also competed in cross country and track & field, will sign this morning to play basketball for the Avenging Angels.

Stephenson said a handful of other schools expressed interest, but backed away after she suffered a right ACL tear in February.

Stephenson averaged 5.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists last season for the Knights and landed on the Telegram All-Area third team. She was voted to the second team two seasons ago.

Stephenson is the first Northern Nash girls\' basketball player to sign to play in college since guard Latara Wade signed with Mount Olive in 2005, former Knights coach Grover Battle said.

Matt LaWell can be reached at 407-9952 or mlawell@coxnc.com