LORMAN — Alcorn State’s women’s basketball team will head into the 2018-19 season with an entirely new look.

The Lady Braves signed nine new players during the offseason, as they try to raise the fortunes of a program that has not finished with a winning record since the 2006-07 season.
Alcorn finished 9-21 last season. Its last Southwestern Athletic Conference championship was in 2005.

Among the signees are five freshmen and four junior college transfers. The latter group includes Hinds Community College guard Kirdis Clark, who averaged 14.0 points per game last season. Only five players are returning for Alcorn from last season’s team.

“I’m very excited about the incoming recruiting class,” Alcorn head coach Courtney Pruitt said in a release. “We have the best of both worlds coming in with the phenomenal junior college players and some really talented freshmen. We’ve finally got depth and height at the post position and I can’t wait to get into the gym and work with this group of young ladies.”

Alcorn’s other signees are guards Alexia Hood, Rayven Patin and Kyler Wyatt; forwards Bria Broughton, Desiree Warfield and Toddriana Isler; and swingmen Diamond Hall and Charisma Walker.

Hood led Homewood High School in Birmingham to the Alabama Class 6A championship in 2017, and a runner-up finish in 2016.

A point guard from Cabrini High School in New Orleans, Patin was ranked 74th at her position in the nation by ESPN’s Dan Olson as a three-star recruit. She averaged 11.0 points per game as a junior and helped her team win three consecutive district championships. She also she graduated with a 4.4 GPA.

Wyatt has taken a circuitous route to Alcorn. She spent one season at Prairie View A&M, then transferred to Blinn Junior College in Texas. As a sophomore, she led Blinn in free throw attempts, free throws made, and assists.

Broughton lettered all four years during her time at Ouachita Parish High School in Monroe, La. A post player, she helped guide the Lady Lions to the second round of the state tournament during her sophomore season and to the third round as a junior.

Warfield played three years at Pine Bluff (Ark.) High School before transferring to Watson Chapel High School for her senior season. The post/forward averaged a double-double as a junior and 8.0 rebounds and 5.0 blocks per game as a senior.

Isler attended Monroe High School in Albany, Ga., and recently completed her Associate’s Degree in Sport Management from Andrew College. The forward led the Lady Tigers with 15.4 points and 9.6 boards per game.

In her four years at Colquitt County High School in Georgia, Hall totaled 1,468 points and 762 rebounds. Hall played in the Georgia North vs. South Classic All-Star Game twice and graduated with a 3.8 GPA.

A transfer from Pearl River Community College, Walker graduated from Brandon High School. The junior averaged 10.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game last season for Pearl River.