Pitt women's basketball signs 6-foot-1 Avery Strickland
Pitt women’s basketball coach Lance White added the second member of his 2022 recruiting class Thursday, signing 6-foot-1 Avery “Ace” Strickland to a national letter of intent.
“She is ultra-competitive, has the pedigree of a winner, and is ready to work,” White said
Strickland is a two-time all-state choice from Farragut High School in Knoxville, Tenn., winning state high school sports Player of the Year honors as a junior in 2021.
During the 2021-22 season, Strickland led Farragut to the state championship game while scoring 31 points and recording nine rebounds in a semifinal victory. Overall last season, she averaged 17.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.5 steals per game while shooting 48% from the floor and 33% from behind the 3-point arc.
“Avery is going to add to our overall size and brings versatility to our roster immediately,” White said. “She is known as a shooter, but she is so much more. She is long and creates problems for a defender on a closeout because she can take it off the bounce as well. Avery is a great fit for us here at Pitt.”
Strickland has shown her athletic versatility by winning a state softball championship as an outfielder and performing on the Farragut track team.
Strickland joins Chartiers Valley’s Aislin Malcolm in Pitt’s current signing class.
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.
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