Arkansas Offers Fayetteville's Callie Berna

Arkansas basketball coach Tom Collen has extended a scholarship offer to Fayetteville sophomore point guard Callie Berna. The 5-foot-9 sharpshooter received the news on Thursday during a visit to the campus with her parents.

"I just couldn't believe it," said Berna, whose brother, Colby Berna, signed with Arkansas' football team in February. "I'm only a sophomore, so I never imagined they were going to offer me a scholarship. It's pretty exciting."

Berna was instrumental in the Lady Bulldogs' Class 7A state championship and 32-0 record this season. She scored 11 points and drained a pair of free throws with 55 seconds remaining to help seal a 72-61 win against North Little Rock in the title game. Berna was named to the All-State team and earned the VYPE Sharpshooter Award after the season.

As far as college is concerned, the scholarship from the Razorbacks is Berna's first official offer. She's also being recruited by every college in the state and several colleges across the country. While intrigued by the offer from her hometown team, Berna plans to take the recruiting process in stride.

"I'm obviously an Arkansas girl being from here so it's an amazing thing to be offered (a scholarship) from Arkansas," Berna said. "It's a dream, but like I said, I'm so young and I don't want to jump into anything.

"I've got two more years to play basketball and think about it."

This weekend, Berna will play in a tournament in Tulsa with her AAU team, the Arkansas Fusion. Other members of the team include Fayetteville's Sierra Shipley and Siloam Springs' Maci Lewis and Ashley Adams.

Berna, who hopes to become a teacher, sports a 4.0 GPA and scored a 25 on the ACT.