Four starters return for a Texas women’s basketball team that reached the Elite Eight round of last year’s NCAA tournament. All-American candidate Rori Harmon is coming back from a knee injury that shortened her third season at Texas, and role players like Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda and Jordana Codio are back.
But there are some new faces on UT’s veteran roster. This offseason, Texas welcomed transfers Laila Phelia (Michigan) and Kyla Oldacre (Miami). Freshmen Jordan Lee, Justice Carlton and Bryanna Preston have also joined the team.
Last week, a media day was held with Texas players and head coach Vic Schaefer. Four of the team’s newcomers — Carlton, Lee, Oldacre and Phelia — discussed why they chose to play at Texas.
Senior guard Laila Phelia
“Competitive greatness, honestly. Being able to play for Vic Schaefer, understanding his concepts. He’s a defensive coach, defense wins games. And being able to play with such great players such as Rori, Shay (Holle), Maddie (Booker), Aaliyah Moore, just excited about all that and then seeing these freshmen come in.”
Junior forward Kyla Oldacre
“I loved everything about it, academically, basketball-wise. Came on my visit here, worked out with coach Schaefer for the first time ever, and I just loved how he worked me out. From the first month of summer I’ve been here, I saw a lot of improvement, my teammates saw a lot of improvement in me, so I knew this is where I want to be.”
Freshman forward Justice Carlton
“There are a lot of things that go into it. I think kind of my final factors about picking the school was family orientation with (Schaefer) being with his daughter on staff and kind of bringing his staff with him from Mississippi just kind of shows me that they were really a tight-knit program and something that’s really important to him.”
Freshman guard Jordan Lee
“Texas had, I always say, the big three. My relationship with my freshman class was phenomenal. The coaches recruited me very, very thoroughly, and that was a huge separator from other programs. And they just provided a great platform for me to succeed in the classroom as well as on the court.”
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This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas women’s basketball team welcomes 5 newcomers in 2024-25
