Alabama prep star chooses Lady Vols

The University of Tennessee women’s basketball program picked up its third commitment for the 2021 recruiting cycle Saturday, when Sara Puckett announced her nonbinding pledge on Twitter.

Puckett, a 6-foot-2 forward from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, chose the Lady Volunteers over offers from 30 programs. ESPN. com rates her as a four-star prospect, the No 62 overall women’s basketball recruit in the country for the class of 2021 and the No. 11 forward. ProspectsNation. com lists Puckett as the No. 21 overall recruit.

ESPN’s Max Olsen wrote, based on an evaluation of Puckett’s performance in the Bob Williams Invitational in April 2019, that she is an “agile faceup-4 performer; brings offensive arsenal to the arc; mobile in uptempo game; executes plays in half-court game, 2-man game; competes on the glass.”

As a junior this past season she averaged 20.3 points, 11.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game, helping Muscle Shoals to a 20-11 record. She was an all-state selection for the third time and made the first team for the second straight year after making the third team as a freshman.

Puckett, who has played varsity basketball since seventh grade, has 1,830 points and 963 rebounds in her prep career.

The Lady Vols expect to lose four seniors after next season, Kellie Harper’s second as coach: guard/ forward Rennia Davis, forwards Kasiyahna Kushkituah and Jaiden McCoy; and center/forward Keyen Green, a graduate transfer from Liberty University whose addition was announced in mid-April.

In addition to Puckett, Tennessee’s committed recruits for the 2021 cycle are guard Kaiya Wynn and forward Karoline Striplin, both rated as top-50 overall prospects.