Duke women’s basketball coach Kara Lawson lands another five-star commitment

Emilee Skinner, a top-10 women’s basketball prospect, became the third five-star Duke commitment in two years on Friday.

Duke women’s basketball coach Kara Lawson did it again on Friday, this time pulling in a commitment from five-star point guard Emilee Skinner.

Skinner, a 6-foot guard who plays for Ridgeline High School in Utah, currently ranks as the No. 7 overall player in the 2025 HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings from espnW. According to MaxPreps, she averaged 24.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 3.5 steals, and 1.7 blocks per game as a junior in 2023-24.

With her decision, Skinner became the fourth five-star high school recruit to join the program in the last year. Forwards Toby Fournier and Arianna Roberson, the 10th- and 17th-ranked players in the 2024 HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings, both committed to Lawson in the previous cycle (although Roberson will miss her freshman season due to injury).

Riley Nelson, a five-star prospect from the Class of 2023 who spent her freshman season with Maryland, transferred to the Blue Devils this offseason.

Lawson also retained six of her seven leading scorers from last season’s run to the Sweet 16, which included an upset of the 2-seed Ohio State Buckeyes in the postseason.

If Skinner wants evidence of what Duke point guards can do with their careers, she can look no further than WNBA star [autotag]Chelsea Gray[/autotag]. The ‘Point Gawd’ won her second Olympic gold medal in Paris earlier this summer, a nice pairing with her three WNBA championships and Finals MVP.