The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team picked up its first commitment for the 2017-18 season Wednesday when Baylor School senior Mya Long pledged to join the program.
The Mocs will lose four seniors, including guards Queen Alford and Moses Johnson, after the 2016-17 season. The 5-foot-10 Long can help fill that void.
She's entering her fifth season as a member of the Lady Red Raiders varsity program, having been a part of consecutive Division II-AA state tournament teams, including last year's runner-up. Long averaged 14 points per game in 2015-16 and was the leading scorer for a team that featured two-time state Miss Basketball winner Kaleigh Clemons, who's entering her freshman season at Vanderbilt.
Long chose the Mocs over offers from Toledo and Louisiana Tech, and she also had interest from Auburn, Texas A&M, Mercer, North Carolina A&T, Georgia Southern, Air Force, Middle Tennessee State and East Tennessee State. Part of the reason for Long's choice was how "faithful" UTC stayed to her despite a pair of surgeries during her junior season that caused a lot of programs to lose interest, she said.
UTC coaches stayed in contact, though, which Long said showed her "where she belonged" was with coach Jim Foster and his Mocs.
"Other coaches showed interest, saw I was hurt, gave up on me and looked at someone else," she said. "I want to be able to pick up where Queen left off next year, help the program, do whatever Coach Foster asks me to do to help the Lady Mocs be more successful."
Baylor coach John Gibson said that UTC was a good fit for Long, stating that she is still "nowhere near as good as she's going to be."
"She's going to be productive for them," Gibson added. "She gets to stay close to home and do what she loves to do. She has tremendous upside, and she's going to keep growing as a player.
"She'll be even better in the future. Once she continues to refine other parts, she will be that much better."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.