The lure of playing before the home-town crowd was too strong to ignore for Boulder twin sisters Brenna and Meagan Malcolm-Peck.

So the two highly recruited girls basketball players gave a verbal commitment to play college hoops for coach Kathy McConnell-Miller at Colorado.

The Malcolm-Pecks chose Colorado over Oklahoma, Vanderbilt and Boston College.

"Everyone in our family has gone to CU," Brenna said Saturday. "We love our home town of Boulder, so that was a factor."

The Malcolm-Pecks -- both 6-foot-2 guard/forwards -- became the first in-state players to commit to CU for the 2009 recruiting class. They will be joined by 6-foot-7 center Melissa MacFarlane of Omaha, Neb. The Buffs have three scholarships still to give to 2009 recruits.

The 2009 in-state recruiting class is considered one of the strongest in recent memory, and the news of the Malcolm-Pecks going to CU comes on the heels of top prospect Broomfield senior Anna Prins' decision to go to Iowa State (see related story, page 4C).

But the Malcolm-Pecks were impressed with McConnell-Miller's commitment in the recruiting process.

"The coaches are definitely working extremely hard to get in-state players," Brenna said. "They were at every one of our games for the last two years."

Although from Boulder, theMalcolm-Pecks spent their first two high school years at ThunderRidge in Highlands Ranch. They transferred to Horizon in Thornton for their junior season and they will spend their upcoming senior season there.

The Malcolm-Pecks were home-schooled and when it came time to play high school basketball they went to ThunderRidge because their friends from their club program were going to ThunderRidge. The family initially moved to Highlands Ranch.

Two years later, however, their mother began to have medical problems and wanted to return to Boulder to be near doctors that had treated her in the past. They chose Horizon because the Hawks had a new coach and the school was a reasonable drive from Boulder.

"We wanted a fresh start," Meagan said. "We wanted to go where the coach didn't have a predetermined mindset about the players."

Brenna, who averaged about 12 points and 5 rebounds per game at Horizon last season, said she expects to play small forward at CU. She was ranked No. 97 nationally and No. 23 at forward by ESPN's HoopGurlz.

Meagan, who averaged about 13 points and 8 rebounds per game for the Hawks, also expects to play small forward at CU. She was ranked No. 95 nationally and No. 22 at forward by HoopGurlz.

"(CU coaches) were willing to have us play at the same time, even though we play the same position," Meagan said. "A lot of different coaches weren't open to that."

And the Malcolm-Pecks were a going to be a package deal, no matter where they went. The sisters have been playing together since kindergarten.

"We have such a close relationship, it would be difficult to go somewhere else," Meagan said. "It would have taken some of the fun away from playing basketball."