University of Tennessee at Chattanooga head coach Jim Foster announced the addition of transfer Arianne Whitaker to the women’s basketball roster next season.
Whitaker, a Cincinnati, Ohio native, is leaving Winthrop University and will have to sit out the season due to NCAA transfer rules. She will have three seasons remaining of eligibility. Whitaker was third on the team at Winthrop in her rookie season averaging 7.9 points per game while leading the Eagles with 9.3 rebounds per game.
She played in 23 games last year and started 19.
The 6-foot-2 forward led the Big South Conference with 56 blocked shots and was third in the league in rebounding. She averaged 31.3 minutes which ranked ninth in the league standings and second for the Eagles.
“I love the idea of having a player of this potential at practice every day,” Foster said. “It allows us to challenge our post players to get better as she works to improve her game in the next year.”
Whitaker was a three-time Big South Freshman of the Week, the most of any freshman, and was named to the league’s All-Freshman team.
She was ranked the No. 19 power forward by ESPN’s high school girls’ basketball prospect for 2015 and helped her Lakota West (West Chester, Ohio) team to the 2015 Ohio High School Association Division I championship, winning its first title.
Whitaker joins Mocs’ signee Van Buren’s Lakelynn Bouldin who was named Tennessee’s Class A Miss Basketball.