With basketball season around the corner, the Memphis Tigers are ready to bounce back from a tough 2020 season. Going into this 2021 campaign, these Tigers have a great mix of youth and experience. They recruited youth and experience. They recruited four future stars in Makaiya Brooks, Aliyah Green, Laurren Randolph and Hannah Riddick.
Meanwhile, bringing crucial veteran leadership to the Tiger’s is fifth year senior Alana Davis. Davis is a special talent who became the 26th Tiger to score 1000 points back in March. Memphis is ready to take the next step and they have the perfect person to lead them there in first year head coach Katrina Merriweather.
Merriweather is the perfect person to lead the Tigers. Merriweather is coming off a season where she led Wright State to their first ever NCAA tournament win while also winning three Horizon League regular season titles during her time there. She also took home Horizon League coach of the year honors three times. Merriweather figures to be a great addition to the Tigers as she is a proven winner and a leader. Merriweather is looking to establish a culture of winning and she has assembled the perfect recruitment class to do that.
When looking at this recruitment class, they have a lot of talent and at the top of the list is Makaiya Brooks. Brooks is a guard from Springfield, Missouri. While at her time at Springfield Central she became their all-time leader in both points and threes. Some more notable accomplishments Brooks received were being named a McDonalds all-American nominee, News leader’s Player of the Year, Court Talk Player of the Year, three-time All-Conference selection, and a four-time First team player in her district. During her time at Springfield, Brooks averaged 24.9 points per game. She also posted a career high 37 points. Brooks is truly a walking “bucket”.
The Tigers also added two great forwards in this recruitment class in Hannah Riddick and Aliyah Green. Riddick is from Calgary Alberta Canada. Riddick was named Athlete of the Year at her former school, Bowness High School. Riddick made the Canada Basketball National Team in 2019. While at Cairine Wilson Secondary school, Riddick led them to the Women’s Final 8 OSBA Championship, where she averaged 16.5 points, nine rebounds, eight steals, and six assists. She can do anything and everything on the court.
Meanwhile, Green was a three-sport athlete at Raymore-Peculiar High School, where she participated in basketball, track, and volleyball. During her time at Raymore-Peculiar, Green was named All-Conference, All-District, and to the 2021 Missouri All-Star team. Green finished her senior year averaging 14.8 points, 10.6 rebounds and 1.5 blocks a game.
Rounding out this deep recruiting class is Lauren Randolph. Randolph played center at Atlanta Christian school. She was a member of the 2021 Regional Championship team. Randolph recorded a career high double-double of 25 points and 15 rebounds. The future looks bright for this upcoming 2021-2022 season for the Tigers.
Although Meriweather definitely has a rebuilding job on her hands, she has gotten off to an encouraging start thus far. There is no doubt it is an exciting time for Memphis women’s basketball.
The Lady Tigers huddles up as they wait on Alcorn State to take the floor during the 2019 season. They are looking for a strong return in 2021 with a new head coach.
