We’re full steam ahead into year three of Katie Abrahamson-Henderson’s tenure at the helm of Georgia women’s basketball.
The opener tips off Monday night in Athens against North Carolina Central.
Abrahamson-Henderson has called this Lady Bulldogs squad “completely different.”
Despite losing their lead scorer and rebounder in Javyn Nicholson and their lead blocker in Jordan Cole, the revamped roster is led by senior guards Asia Avinger and De’Mauri Flournoy and features four ESPN-100 freshman and two transfers — including an intra-conference one in Nyah Leveretter, who transferred in from Kentucky.
Georgia was predicted to finish 14th (out of 16 now with the additions of Texas and Oklahoma) by a panel of experts with the USA Today Sports Network.
A season of redemption is on the horizon, but before that train arrives in the station, here are our bold predictions:
Georgia women will finish regular season in the SEC top 10
Georgia women’s baskteball is going to finish higher than anticipated this season.
As said above, experts in the USA Today Sports Network picked them to finish 14th of 16. The league’s coaches put them at 13th.
The Lady Bulldogs finished the 2023-24 season 12-18 overall and 3-13 in conference play last season to land at the bottom of the SEC with Missouri (13th of 14). They missed their fifth-ever postseason bid since 2000 last year after falling in the first round of the conference tournament to Kentucky, 64-50.
This year though, something is different. They’re hungry, they’re aggressive and they’re back for a redemption arc.
The four freshmen of the apocalypse
The talent in Abrahamson-Henderson’s class of 2024 recruits is insane and it’s going to give Georgia the push it needs to nail that first prediction.
Guard Trinity Turner was the 2024 Florida Dairy Farmers Miss Basketball, as well as their Class 7A Player of the Year three-years in a row. She led Dr. Phillips High School in five categories (points, rebounds, steals, blocks and assists) and to a 99-12 record over her three-year tenure. She had 1,998 points, 1,005 rebounds, 701 assists and 372 steals in her career and won back-to-back-to-back state titles.
Forward Mia Woolfolk is beginning her collegiate career on a high after winning a state title her senior year at Manchester High School and being named the 2024 MaxPreps Virginia Player of the Year with an average of 20 points and 9.7 rebounds per game.
Twin guards Indya and Summer Davis led West Bloomfield High School to an 88-8 record over four years. They won a state title last winter as well, with Summer averaging 18.2 points, 4.3 steals, 4.1 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game and being named both Michigan Gatorade Player of the Year and MaxPreps Michigan Player of the Year.
Nyah Leveretter’s SEC experience will come in handy in January
With the sheer number of women on the Lady Bulldogs’ roster this year who have either not seen collegiate court time, not seen SEC court time, or both, the redshirt senior forward from Kentucky will be oil to the engine when the conference schedule rolls forward in January.
Leveretter didn’t play at all in the 2023-24 season as she was still recovering from an ACL injury she sustained at the end of the 2022-23 season.
However, as a junior, prior to the ill-fated injury, she was a starter for 21 of the 26 games she played, averaging 2.5 points, 3.9 rebounds, 0.2 assists, 0.4 steals and 0.6 blocks per game.
“We needed another post player, seasoned post player, to come on the floor,” Abrahamson-Henderson said. “Nyah, she has that SEC experience.”
She’s not a huge three-point shooter, evident of the zero-percent shooting from beyond the arc she did as a Wildcat, but that’s something the Lady Bulldogs wanted to work on in the offseason after their disappointing 27.5% accuracy last season.
She’s had plenty of time to rest and now she gets to put that to the test.
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia women’s basketball three bold predictions
