It was barely 6 p.m., maybe even not yet, when she started to address her friends and family gathered in a semicircle in the gymnasium.

Gardiner took about 20-25 words to thank everyone for coming and for their support over the years and then she got right down to business, sitting down between her parents, asking “OK, now where do I sign?”

And then she signed her NLI to Oregon State.

Gardiner’s recruiting process started five years ago when she was playing on a U17 team as a seventh-grader.

That process, involving dozens of scholarship offers, concluded Wednesday night when she put pen to paper as part of Oregon State’s highest-rated recruiting class in school history, according to ESPN.

Gardiner, the No. 6 recruit in the nation for the class of 2022 and a five-star prospect, verbally committed to Oregon State earlier this year, then took her official visit to Corvallis in September.

At the time, she picked Oregon State over other finalists Stanford and UCLA.

Gardiner is one of, if not the highest-rated basketball recruit to ever come out of the state of Utah. She’s by far the highest-rated recruit from the state since Syracuse alumnus Brittney Martin, the No. 19 prospect in the class of 2012, who went to Oklahoma State.

In a recent interview with the Standard-Examiner, Gardiner said she picked Oregon State for a few reasons, including that Corvallis is a college town, the women’s basketball program routinely packs 9,301-seat Gill Coliseum, the team has a family atmosphere that Gardiner says reminds her of Fremont, and she has a great relationship with OSU head coach Scott Rueck and assistant Jonas Chatterton.

“Oregon State, they’re very family-oriented, which is kind of how it is at Fremont, but I would say a bunch of the girls are so nice and the camaraderie that they have is so — you can’t really beat that,” Gardiner said.

Recruiting, from the coaches’ perspective, is all about building good relationships with kids. OSU’s coaches knew Gardiner well enough to kind of leave her alone, in a sense.

“With my (knee) injury they’ve always been super supportive and the way they recruited me, it’s not really necessarily hands-on, they gave me my space, which I really appreciate,” Gardiner said.

Gardiner, a 6-foot-3 senior forward, has started all three previous seasons at Fremont and averaged 13.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game last season before missing the second half of the season with a knee injury. She recovered in time to play with her club team this summer in a couple tournaments.

Gardiner returns with recently reclassified senior Maggie Mendelson and fellow senior guard Mia Austin, so the Silverwolves are once again expected to contend for the 6A state championship and enter the season as prohibitive favorites to win Region 1.

Fremont, the defending 6A state champions who went 26-0 in Utah last season, open the season Tuesday, Nov. 23, against defending 5A champion Springville.

AREA SIGNINGS

Several area prep student athletes signed NLIs on Wednesday. Email sports@standard.net to report any athletes to add to this list.

KYLEE MABRY, Davis: Mabry signed her NLI with Utah Valley University for women’s basketball, where she verbally committed to in June. Mabry averaged 13 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.5 steals per game last season for the Darts.

HAILEE GARCIA, Syracuse: Garcia, a setter on the Titans’ volleyball team, signed with St. Mary’s College. Garcia is Utah’s career record-holder for assists with 3,311. She helped Syracuse win Region 1 and finish in third place at this year’s 6A state tournament.

GRACE KIRBY, Fremont: Kirby, a forward on the Fremont soccer team, signed with Weber State. Kirby scored four goals with three assists this season.

TAYIAH LAMBERT, Syracuse: Lambert, a goalkeeper on the Syracuse soccer team, signed with Weber State. She kept four shutouts this season.

SAMANTHA KEARNS, Farmington: Kearns, a wing for the Farmington soccer team, signed with Weber State. She scored five goals with two assists.

ELLA SANDERS, Northridge: Sanders, a midfielder on the Northridge soccer team, signed with Weber State. Sanders scored one goal with four assists.

MASON COOK, Farmington: Cook, a senior catcher on the baseball team, signed with the University of Hawaii-Hilo. He batted .455 last year with 19 doubles, caught 211 innings, threw out 18 runners on the basepaths last season and was a First Team All-Region 5 selection.