The Arizona women’s basketball team signed two post players yesterday, Ify Ibekwe and Sarah Hays, to join guard Tasha Dickey in its 2007 recruiting class.

UA head coach Joan Bonvicini said Ibekwe is a four-star recruit that will be expected to contribute immediately.

“”Ify is a great, great athlete,”” Bonvicini said. “”She can shoot, run the floor, rebound and score around the basket. We haven’t had anyone like her in a while.””

Ibekwe will enter in the fall as a freshman from Narbonne High School in Carson, Calif., a program that has produced national and state championships.

Her family is no stranger to NCAA Division I basketball. Her oldest brother, Onyekachi, played at Oklahoma State and Long Beach State and last year signed a rookie free-agent contract with the San Francisco 49ers even though he didn’t play college football at all.

Ibekwe’s other older brother, Ekene, was recruited by Arizona but opted to play at Maryland, where he was a starting forward, averaging 10.4 points and 7.8 rebounds a game as a senior.

Ibekwe also has some Pacific 10 Conference ties. Her older sister, Chinyere, will be a junior starting forward next season for UCLA.

Hays is a 6-foot-1, left-handed forward originally from nearby Oracle who spent the last two years at Chandler-Gilbert Community College.

Hays averaged 18.2 points and 11.4 rebounds per game while shooting 49.2 percent. She was named the ACCAC Player of the Year and named to the first-team All-America team.

“”She’s a good kid, a hard worker,”” Bonvicini said. “”She’s going to be able to play here and contribute immediately.

“”She’s just a winner.””