Tag: Lady Vols

KNOXVILLE — Tennessee Lady Vols basketball coach Kellie Harper landed a commitment from another top recruit Wednesday.

Brooklynn Miles, a 5-star prospect from Richmond, Kentucky, is the fourth player from the Class of 2021 to announce her intentions to play for Harper on Rocky Top.

She joins 5-star guard Kaiya Wynn, 5-star forward Karoline Striplin and four-star forward Sara Puckett in that recruiting class.

Miles, a 5-foot-6-inch point guard, announced her decision on Wednesday.

ESPN ranks her as the No. 46 overall player in the 2021 recruiting class. She is ranked ninth nationally among point guards.

The rising Franklin County senior was also recruited by several other schools including Kentucky, Miami (Fla.), Pennsylvania, Purdue, Cincinnati and North Carolina State.

NASHVILLE — Kaiya Wynn previously committed to play her college basketball for the Lady Vols.

She will not be playing her final high school season in Tennessee.

Wynn, a 2021 commitment for the University of Tennessee, will spend her final year of high school in Texas.

Wynn, one of the top basketball players in the Volunteer State, is moving with her family after her mother took a job in Texas.

She is a two-time Miss Basketball Semifinalist in Tennessee and helped The Ensworth School win a Division II-AA state championship in 2020.

The Lady Tigers went undefeated this past season, posting a 29-0 record.

She committed to play for the Lady Vols earlier this spring and averaged 15.3 points and 6.1 rebounds per game last season.

KNOXVILLE — A longtime assistant softball coach for the University of Tennessee has resigned.

Marty McDaniel, who has served as the Lady Vols’ pitching coach for the past 16 seasons under co-head coaches Ralph and Karen Weekly, is leaving the program.

McDaniel came to Knoxville to work with Tennessee’s pitchers in 2005. During his tenure on Rocky Top, he coached left-hander Monica Abbott, one of the top softball players in UT and NCAA history. He also mentored Ivy and Ellen Renfroe.

Abbott, who hails from Salinas, California, currently plays for Team USA and during her career on Rocky Top, she became the only NCAA pitcher to record at least 500 strikeouts in each of her four collegiate campaigns.

She was named USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year in 2007. That year, the Lady Vols’ pitching staff led the nation in ERA and strikeouts.

In 2005, UT’s pitching staff set a national record when it posted 51 shutouts.

After Abbott graduated, McDaniel mentored Ivy and Ellen Renfroe from 2010-13.

Ivy won 97 wins in her career and was a four-time All-Southeastern Conference standout. She was also selected to the Women’s College World Series All-Tournament Team in 2010.

Ellen was a four-time All-SEC performer and a three-time All-America standout.

McDaniel had a solid stint in Knoxville, but recently the pitching staff has struggled while being plagued by injuries. Caylan Arnold, a Maryville High School product, also transferred after her junior season with the team and is now at Florida State.

In her three years at Tennessee, she had 473 strikeouts and a 2.15 ERA.

The Lady Vols were 14-9 in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic prematurely ended the season. UT had a staff ERA of 3.21.

KNOXVILLE – The Southeastern and Big 12 Conferences have announced 2020 match-ups for their Women’s Basketball Challenge.

The Lady Vols will play at West Virginia this season. The date of the contest has yet to be determined.

Tennessee has a 6-0 series lead against the Mountaineers, and the two schools most recently played on Nov. 21, 2007.

The inaugural challenge took place in 2014.

2020 SEC/Big 12 Women’s Basketball Challenge Match-Ups

South Carolina @ Iowa State

Kentucky @ Kansas State

Alabama @ Oklahoma State

Texas A&M @ Texas

Tennessee @ West Virginia

Baylor @ Arkansas

Kansas @ Ole Miss

Oklahoma @ Georgia

TCU @ Missouri

Texas Tech @ Vanderbilt

MUSCLE SHOALS — University of Tennessee women’s basketball coach Kellie Harper picked up a commitment from a four-star recruit over the weekend.

Sara Puckett, a 6-foot-2-inch forward from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, announced her intentions to play for the Lady Vols.

She is a four-star prospect and also had offers from three other Southeastern Conference schools and a pair of Atlantic Coast Conference teams. Her offers included Mississippi State, Georgia, Kentucky, Florida State and Louisville.

As a junior at Muscle Shoals High School, Puckett averaged 20.3 points and 11.4 rebounds per game during the 2019-20 basketball season.

CHATTANOOGA — An All-Southeastern Conference standout is leaving the University of Tennessee softball program.

Sophomore Kaili Phillips is headed to Chattanooga.

Phillips is an Ooltewah, Tennessee native and Silverdale Baptist Academy graduate was joining his team.

Phillips will be eligible for the 2021 season and have three years left to play after the NCAA granted athletes in spring sports an extra year of eligibility after the 2020 campaign was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a freshman for the Lady Vols in 2019, Phillips hit .246 and clubbed 10 home runs en route to being named to the SEC’s All-Freshman Team.

KNOXVILLE — Former University of Tennessee softball player Aubrey Leach was recently nominated for the H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete Post-Graduate Scholarship.

Leach, a Political Science major who hails from The Woodlands, Texas, was a member of the Southeastern Conference’s Spring Honor Roll on multiple occasions and the Easton NFCA Scholar-Athlete in 2016.

Leach, also a standout player for the Lady Vols on the diamond, was a member of the SEC’s First-Year Academic Honor Roll for the 2015-16 academic year and earned numerous academic and softball honors during her career on Rocky Top.

In 2018, Leach set the school record for runs scored in a season with 80.

The H. Boyd McWhorter Scholarship has been awarded by the SEC since 1986.