Pitt lands 2019 Mountain West Freshman of the Year Jayla Everett
Lance White can’t put Jayla Everett in his lineup until the second semester of the 2020-21 Pitt season, but he believes she will be worth the wait.
Pitt’s women’s basketball coach made Everett’s transfer official Wednesday after a season and a half at New Mexico.
“She is a dynamic player that will give us needed depth at the guard position,” White said. “She will have an immediate impact on our team. I can’t wait for her to get here and start working.”
Everett, a 5-10 guard from St. Louis, Mo., was named the Mountain West Freshman of the Year and honorable mention all-conference after the 2018-19 season.
She started all 31 games and averaged 13.5 points, 3.7 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game. She also led the team and was ninth in the Mountain West with 58 3-pointers, shooting 33.5 percent beyond the arc, while setting a New Mexico freshman record with 417 points.
During the 2019-20 season, there were reports of “friction” between Everett and New Mexico coach Mike Bradbury, according to the Albuquerque Journal.
The Journal reported Everett practiced with the scout team and argued with Bradbury on Jan. 17. The next day, she tweeted that she decided to leave the team and transfer. She was one of three New Mexico players to leave after the start of the season, according to the Journal.
— JAY (@jayla_dianne4) January 18, 2020
Everett, who started 17 of UNM’s first 19 games, averaged 11.5 points. In a December victory against Loyola Marymount, she scored a career-high 34, adding four rebounds and two steals.
Bradbury told the Journal there were issues between him and Everett, but he said they parted on good terms.
“We had a good talk after (Friday’s) practice,” he said, “and we both thought it might be best for both sides to part ways. Jayla and I are fine. I hope she goes somewhere and is the best player ever. It just won’t be here.”
Everett was the 94th-ranked prospect in the nation, according to ESPN.com, when she played at Kirkwood High School in St. Louis, winning consecutive state championships.
She will join Pitt’s 2020 recruiting class that includes Tracey Hueston, a top-100 recruit from Roanoke, Va.; Liatu King, a second-team All-Met honoree from Washington, D.C.; and Taisha Exanor, the Quebec Student Sport Federation Player of the Year from Montreal, Canada.
Get the latest news about Pitt basketball and all things Panthers athletics.
Jerry DiPaola is a TribLive reporter covering Pitt athletics since 2011. A Pittsburgh native, he joined the Trib in 1993, first as a copy editor and page designer in the sports department and later as the Pittsburgh Steelers reporter from 1994-2004. He can be reached at jdipaola@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.