Australian Jessie Rennie signs with Lady Vols

Lady Vols logo
Lady Vols logo

KNOXVILLE - Tennessee announced the signing of Australian basketball guard Jessie Rennie on Thursday.

The 5-foot-6 Rennie becomes the Lady Volunteers' third-ever international player, joining 2018-19 senior Cheridene Green (England) and forward Lou Brown, another Australian who will be a senior next season. Green averaged 9.0 points and 7.6 rebounds per game and was the only Tennessee player to start every game this past season, while Brown - who came to Tennessee as a graduate transfer from Washington State - missed the season due to a torn ACL.

Rennie is the program's fourth signee for the 2019 signing class, joining guard Jordan Horston - the No. 2-ranked player in the country and the MVP of this year's McDonald's All-American girls' basketball game - and forwards Tamari Key and Emily Saunders.

"We are happy to be adding Jessie Rennie to the Lady Vol family," new Tennessee coach Kellie Harper said in a university release. "My staff and I look forward to getting to work with all four of our incoming freshmen when they arrive in May."

Rennie attended Bendigo Senior Secondary College and played for the Bendigo Spirit of the Women's National Basketball League and the Bendigo Lay Braves of the South East Australian Basketball League. She missed last season due to a torn ACL, but in 2017 she played in 25 games and averaged 6.2 points per game. Nearly 70 percent of her shots came from 3-point range - 32 in 88 attempts.

She averaged 4.3 points per game the year before, knocking down 13 of 34 tries from long range. All but five of her shots came from 3-point distance.

Jackson in Dream camp

Tennessee's Meme Jackson was signed to the training camp roster of the WNBA's Atlanta Dream. She becomes the 48th Lady Vol to move on to the WNBA and the 60th to play professionally in any league.

The 5-11 guard averaged 10.8 points per game as a senior and led the team in 3-pointers made with 54. She finished with 129 career 3s, which left her four short of Tennessee's all-time top 10.

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.

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