Guard Celeste Taylor, who helped lead Texas to the NCAA Elite Eight this season, headlines the group. She averaged 12.3 points and 4.9 rebounds per game for the Longhorns as a sophomore. Fellow former Big 12 guards Lexi Gordon of Texas Tech and Jordyn Oliver of Baylor also are headed to Duke.
Gordon was the Lady Raiders’ second-leading scorer this past season (15.7 PPG) as a starter and is a graduate transfer. Oliver came off the bench for the league champion Lady Bears and averaged 4.0 PPG as a sophomore.
Also joining the Blue Devils are guard/forward Elizabeth Balogun of Louisville, center Amaya Finklea-Guity of Syracuse and forward Imani Lewis of Wisconsin.
Lewis started 84 games in three seasons at Wisconsin, averaging 15.0 points and 8.8 rebounds this past season. Balogun was ACC freshman of the year for Georgia Tech in 2019, but then spent her last two years at Louisville, averaging 5.8 points this past season. Finklea-Guity, a grad transfer, started 96 games with the Orange, but was in a reserve role this past season, averaging 3.4 points per game.
“We wanted to be aggressive in going after players that fit how we want to play,” Lawson said in a statement. “There are a couple things that we value highly. One is versatility. The other is two-way players — players that can make an impact on both ends. All of these players can do that.”
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