Canadian combo guard Lemyah Hylton, one of the top recruits in the Class of 2022 who narrowed her choices to Arizona, Alabama and Maryland, verbally committed on Saturday night to join the Wildcats.
Arizona coach Adia Barnes first offered a scholarship to Hylton, who is 5-foot-11 and versatile on offense and defense, in 2019 after the Wildcats made their run to the WNIT championship.
Hylton, rated a four-star prospect by ESPN, attends Southwest Academy in London, Ontario. She was born in Mississauga, Ontario, close to where Arizona senior guard Shaina Pellington was raised in Toronto.
Recruiting service LBInsider.com describes Hylton’s skills this way:
“A strong hybrid guard with athleticism! The way she rises up over the rim while she attacks the basket it a delight. She is a such a strong slasher and can hit the deep ball. … She rebounds with a purpose and has a body type that will translate on each level she plays at.”
Barnes’ high-level Class of 2022 commitments nearly comprise a lineup. It includes Hylton on the perimeter, power forward Maya Nnaji (Zeke Nnaji’s sister) at the post and point guard Kailyn Gilbert as the primary ballhander.
After this season, Arizona will lose versatile fifth-year senior forward Sam Thomas and potentially Pellington, also a fifth-year senior who transferred from Oklahoma.
Pellington is eligible to return in 2022-23 by virtue of the NCAA allowing an extra year of eligibility because of COVID-19 protocol last year.
Arizona senior post player Cate Reese has already announced she is returning to Barnes’ program for a fifth year in 2022-23.
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator five years ago and is presently a special education teacher at Gallego Fine Arts Intermediate in the Sunnyside Unified School District
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