UK Athletics Photo
One day after signing 6-4 Janae Walker of Georgia to give the Kentucky women’s basketball team some needed size to compete in the Southeastern Conference, the Cats have lost a 6-4 player.
Caroline Makauskas of the Lexington Herald-Leader reported that 6-4 redshirt freshman Tionna Herron has put her name into the transfer portal after getting the information confirmed by UK.
Herron never played a game for coach Kyra Elzy because after signing with the Cats she needed open-heart surgery last August. However, several times during the season the team had social media posts about what a big part of the team she was and Herron shared her story about the path to recovery several times as well.
She was a huge signee for Elzy. She was rated the 11th best post player in her class and a top 70 player overall by ESPN. She helped DeSoto (Texas) High School win the state title her junior year.
Two other players put their names in the transfer portal early. One was starting guard Jada Walker who has signed with Baylor. The other was freshman Kennedy Cambridge.
Kentucky finished 12-19 last season and lost 14 of 16 SEC games one year after winning the SEC Tournament championship.
Her departure marks the third Wildcat to enter the portal following a disappointing 12-19 (2-14 SEC) season in Kyra Elzy’s third year as head coach. Starting guard Jada Walker, who has since signed with Baylor, as well as impact freshman Kennedy Cambridge both announced their intention to transfer not long after UK’s season-ending loss to Tennessee in the quarterfinals of the 2023 SEC Tournament.
Kentucky will add Janae Walker and Jordy Griggs of Montverde (Fla.) Academy to next year’s roster but Herron’s defection is another bad look for the UK’s women’s program coming off a disastrous year.
3 Responses
Pretty sad day for the Cats
That’s puzzling to me.
Very perplexing