By: Associated Press
Aaliyah Chavez, the top-rated women’s basketball recruit in the county, committed to Oklahoma on Tuesday.
She made her announcement the day after the Sooners advanced to the women’s NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 for the first time since 2013.
Chavez, a 5-foot-11 point guard who recently led Lubbock Monterey High School to a Texas state championship, picked the Sooners over power programs South Carolina, Texas, LSU and her hometown university Texas Tech.
“I’m ready to give my all to make this my home and bring a national championship to the city of Norman,” Chavez said in a televised news conference from her high school campus.
Chavez is rated by ESPN HoopGurlz as the No. 1 recruit in the nation in the class of 2025. She was the Naismith and Gatorade national player of the year and a McDonald’s All-American. She averaged 34.9 points, 9.1 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 3.7 steals as a senior. She scored nearly 4,800 points in her high school career.
Oklahoma has a legacy of success in the NCAA Tournament with 11 trips to the Sweet 16 and three Final Fours in 2002, 2009 and 2010. The No. 3 seed Sooners continue their March Madness run against No. 2 UConn on Saturday in Spokane, Washington.