The Idaho State women’s basketball Australian pipeline will continue.

The Bengals announced the signing of three players in the class of 2021, including Aussie forward Brooke Malone, on Monday.

The other players in the class are guard Sophia Covello, from California, and forward Mia Flor, from Washington.

Malone, a 6-foot-2 forward from Perth, joins Canberra native Callie Bourne on the Bengals’ roster.

“She is very versatile,” head coach Seton Sobolewski said. “She can play inside, but her strength is probably going to be even more on the perimeter. She’s a dynamic player.”

Assistant coach Ryan Johnson’s connections were key to recruiting Malone, who averaged 14.3 points and 7.1 rebounds in 2020 for Willetton Senior High School.

Like Bourne, who grew up playing the sport, Malone has an Australian rules football background. Her father, Dayle, played the sport for many years before switching into coaching.

“They’re kind of known for toughness and working hard, and I think she grew up with that mentality with her dad,” Sobolewski said. “There’s so many good players (in Australia), and the opportunity to come to the United States and get school paid for and also play Division-I basketball is such an attractive thing over there.”

Covello, a 5-foot-10 guard, was a two-time Sacramento Bee All-Metro selection at Woodcreek High School.

“She’s like a long, athletic, multi-dimensional guard who can play point guard, but she can play all the other positions too,” Sobolewski said. “She has a tough-nosed mentality on the defensive end, and she’ll get up and pressure, moves her feet well. She can also really knock down the outside shot, even off the dribble.”

Flor, a 6-foot-2 forward, committed to Idaho State in July, a few weeks after Covello.

“She’s going to bring size, some athleticism, some toughness, some rebounding to the table right away,” Sobolewski said. “She’s not going to be a great scorer from the very beginning, but I think she brings a lot that will allow her to play sooner rather than later. Her offense will develop.”

With the NCAA-instituted dead period that went into effect in the spring and was extended multiple times, neither Covello nor Flor got the chance to take an official visit to Idaho State and meet the coaches, but both visited Pocatello anyway to see the school.

“It was very non-traditional,” Sobolewski said. “They both made efforts to come see Pocatello on their own, even without being able to interact with us at all. I kind of feel for them that they didn’t get to do the whole traditional visit, tailgate, go to a football game, but I’m hoping we can make it up to them later.”