A large gathering of family, friends, teammates and administrators met at the home of New Albany High School seniors Haley and Hannah Robertson on Nov. 11 to celebrate the twin sisters' signing of scholarship offers to play basketball at Miami University.

They are the first New Albany athletes to sign Division I athletic scholarships for girls basketball.

"Ever since we were little we've dreamed about this," said Hannah Robertson, a three-year starter for the Eagles. "Just knowing that there were other girls dreaming about this and to be the first ones to actually achieve it is an honor."

New Albany waits to do all of its college signings at a special ceremony in the spring, but the traditional signing day for basketball players is in November and Haley and Hannah's parents, Becky and Don Robertson, set up a private signing ceremony to commemorate the day.

About 40 people attended.

"It's just an awesome example of how much support we have around us and we couldn't have done it without all the support," Haley Robertson said. "There's so many people here that want to be a part of it and we're just happy to have them be a part of it."

The recruiting process wasn't typical. The sisters decided that they wanted to play for the same college. Both were considered Division I talents. Then the process became finding a school willing to give scholarships to both.

Dozens of schools came calling. Some schools even sent representatives from far away to watch practices.

"University of Mississippi came all the way from Mississippi to watch these two play in an open gym," coach Jamie Puryear said. "That's truly when I realized just how good they were and just how big their future was going to be."

Puryear fielded calls inquiring about the two everyday in the summer before last season.

Miami offered both a full scholarship a month before last season started, but the sisters waited until after the holiday break before accepting the offer. They took Puryear with them on a trip to watch Miami beat Kent State 71-60 last January, and there they made their decision. They returned from that trip and called Puryear around midnight to tell him they were going to accept. Shortly after that, they contacted Miami coach Maria Fantanarosa.

"Going into the recruitment process, I was focused on evaluating them individually," said Fantanarosa, who never signed twins before. "I had to make sure they were different enough players. They are different enough, but they are the same in that they can both help us."

Both are three-year letterwinners at New Albany. Hannah has developed a reputation of being the more complete offensive player. Haley, however, has become New Albany's top perimeter defender and a consistent 3-point shooter.

"Hannah can take over a game," Fantanarosa said. "She can get to the basket and hit the jump shot. Haley stands out because of her defensive intensity. She seems to dictate what the offense does because of her ball pressure and she is a good 3-point shooter."

Hannah led the Eagles in scoring (17.8), rebounding (7.5) and assists (4.8) last season. Haley averaged 13.5 points, second most on the team, and 2.5 rebounds.

Bowling Green was the second school on their list, and they also took trips to visit Michigan State and Xavier, but Miami turned out to be the best fit.

"We've always played basketball together," Haley said. "That's kind of why we played basketball, because it was fun and we get a chance to play together."