University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball coach Wes MooreWes Moore looked a couple of years down the road when it came to recruiting players for the upcoming University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball freshman class.
There are six juniors on UTC’s roster this season and Moore received five signed national letters of intent Wednesday, the first day of the early signing period, and is expecting one more this week.
“We’re losing six seniors a year from now and rather than have to count on freshmen to come in and carry the load completely, we’re trying to get a nucleus in here that can get a year under their belt,” Moore said. “Plus, I just think competition is good for everybody.”
The Lady Mocs signed two guards: Moses Johnson of Greenforest-McCalep Christian Academy (Ga.) and Whitney Hartlage of Mercy Academy (Ky.); two forwards: Aryanna Gilbert of Columbia Central (Tenn.) High School and Jasmine Joyner of Southaven (Miss.) High School; and center Ansley Chilton of Dade County (Ga.) High School.
UTC also has a commitment from Chelsey Shumpert of Paducah Tilghman (Ky.) High School, a high-scoring point guard that averaged 25.4 points per game last season.