COMMITMENT: UVA women’s basketball adds 6’7” transfer Taylor Lauterbach from Kansas State

Three times last year, the Virginia Cavaliers women’s basketball team dressed only seven players. One game they only dressed six players. Coach Agugua-Hamilton is going to make sure that never happens again. A week after landing former New York Gatorade Player of the Year, Paris Clark from Arizona, Coach Mox has brought in 6’ 7” Taylor Lauterbach from Kansas State.

Height was a problem for the ‘Hoos last year as none of Virginia’s trio of bigs — Camryn Taylor, Sam Brunelle and London Clarkson — stood over 6’ 2”. In a league that featured Virginia Tech’s 6’5” Liz Kitley, NC State’s 6’5” River Baldwin, Miami’s 6’ 6” Kyla Oldacre, George Tech’s 6’5” Nerea Hermosa, and Boston College’s 6’3” (she’s really 6’4”) Maria Gakdeng, Virginia was consistently hammered on the boards.

Enter Lauterbach. She is firmly in the Virginia wheelhouse academically. She has earned her B.A. in just three years at Manhattan (Kansas.) She has two years of eligibility remaining. At Kansas State, she was a bench player, starting only five games in her career, though all five did come this season. She has averaged about 8 minutes per game but, remarkably, has grabbed about two boards/game and she’s averaged a block every other game.

Coach Mox, using almost the same words to describe Paris Clark, made mention of her character and academic performance. Discipline was certainly issue for the Cavaliers this past season as Mox suspended two players for unspecified disciplinary issues (and both have since left the program), and Brunelle and Clarkson were both tossed from games for fighting, earning a one-game suspension for their troubles.

In a statement, Coach Mox said that “I’m thrilled to welcome Taylor into our family. Taylor is a high-academic student-athlete committed to the grind on and off the court. She is a hard-working high-character kid who is tall, long and mobile. She can block and alter shots in the paint. She also has great hands and can catch and score, as well as shoot the 15-foot/three-point shot. Her potential is off the charts! I am excited that she has two years to develop under our tutelage. Her future is bright!”

Coach Mox can recruit with the best of ‘em. And, looking at her twitter feed, it doesn’t look like she’s done.

Welcome to Virginia, Taylor!