Three highly-ranked Class of 2024 players have committed to Texas women’s basketball ahead of its move to the SEC.
Five-star Justice Carlton, ranked No. 7 by espnW, announced her commitment on Sept. 22 along with fellow five-star and No. 8 Jordan Lee.
Carlton chose Texas over a list of strong teams including Arizona, South Carolina, Connecticut and the reigning national champions LSU.
The forward was named 9-6A Offensive Player of the Year after she averaged 22.3 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists and two blocks per game as a junior at Seven Lakes High School in Katy, Texas.
Lee’s decision also came from a competitive list that included Stanford, Louisville and Baylor. Her high school coach at St. Mary’s-Stockton, Alle Moreno, praised Lee’s basketball IQ and called her a “coach on the floor,” according to SportStars magazine.
Moreno played with WNBA star and Olympic gold medalist Chelsea Gray and said Lee’s drive to win reminds her of her former teammate.
Carlton and Lee sit between Aaliyah Moore and Rori Harmon on the list of head coach Vic Shaefer’s highest-rated recruits. In the 2021 recruiting cycle, Moore was ranked sixth and Harmon was ranked 10th.
On Saturday, four-star point guard Bryanna Preston also announced her commitment to Texas, making her the third member of the new class.
The No. 43 ranked player in her class, according to espnW, chose Texas over 27 other colleges in a list that included Florida, Alabama, Georgia Tech and Tennessee.
Preston led the Lovejoy Lady Wildcats to a 6A State Finals runners-up finish with an average of 18.7 points per game and will join an already strong team of guards that includes junior Rori Harmon and sophomore Sarah Graves.
Head coach Vic Schaefer credited his staff’s work in recruiting high school players but can’t go into specific player details until the official signing day in November.
“I’m committed to those kids,” Schaefer said about his mission with the young players in the program. “We’re committed to developing them and playing them. They need to play. They’re good enough.”
