Taylor Wurtz has made quite a name for herself in basketball circles, establishing herself as the premier player in the state of Wisconsin and attracting scholarship offers from major colleges around the country.

But to some of her future University of Wisconsin Badger teammates, she'll always be "Frogger," the tagalong little cousin of their former AAU teammate, Ana Wurtz.

The summer before her freshman year at Ripon High School, Taylor went along with her cousin to play in an AAU tournament. Among her teammates were two current Badgers, Mariah Dunham and Lin Zastrow.

"She was like this little girl cousin and we were all like oh, OK," recalled Dunham. "Then in this tournament we were like, your cousin's going to get in a game, that's cool. And all of the sudden she's in there and she's just lighting it up. It was unbelievable. All of us were laughing, just from the way she played. She was so scrappy. She's a basketball player."

It was that energetic style of play that inspired her nickname. "I call her 'Frogger' because one time there was a loose ball and she hopped over this defender to get the ball. It was just like the game Frogger. Now, every time I see her I call her 'Frogger.'"

When Dunham ran into Wurtz again this past summer, she barely recognized her. "When I saw her, I said, 'Where did that little girl go that I saw when we first started playing together?' She's grown up," said Dunham.

UW coach Lisa Stone believes that Wurtz has developed into a player who can step right in and contribute to the Badgers next season. Wurtz, who verbally committed to Wisconsin in September, made her decision official Wednesday by signing a letter of intent during a ceremony in front of many of her classmates at Ripon High School.

"She is by far, in our opinion, the best player in the state of Wisconsin in her class," said Stone, who attended all but one of Wurtz's games this past summer while playing for the Wisconsin Fastbreak Select AAU team. "It was a pleasure to watch Taylor play and watch her grow as a player.

"She's strong, physical, great Big Ten body, deep 3-point shooter, can get her shot off very quickly, handles the ball very well and just a really tough kid. I'm looking forward to her stepping in right away and contributing as a Badger."

That sounds good to Wurtz, a 6-foot guard who is ranked No. 86 in her class by ESPN HoopGurlz.

"The chance to play in the Big Ten is definitely a dream," she said. "I just can't wait."

Of course, she'll have to wait one more year, which is good news to Ripon coach Bill Peters. Wurtz is a three-time Eastern Valley Conference player of the year and holds the school record for points (1,343), assists (280) and steals (277) while leading the Tigers to a 59-10 overall record and a 40-2 mark in conference games.