In the middle of April, the women’s basketball season is over. The Splash Sisters—Lexie Brown and Rebecca Greenwell—were both drafted less than a week ago into the WNBA. But for the Blue Devils, it is never too early to find players who could become the next in line in the WNBA pipeline.
Duke landed its first Class of 2019 commitment Sunday night from Jaida Patrick from West Haverstraw, N.Y. Patrick currently attends Saddle River Day High School in Saddle River, N.J., and is ranked No. 25 on Prospect Nation’s recruiting rankings. The junior does not show up on ESPN’s Super 60 list provided by Dan Olsen of the Collegiate Girls Basketball Report, and Patrick’s Blue Star Basketball ranking comes in at No. 133 in her class.
The commitment came on the same day that the nation’s top recruit Samantha Brunelle committed to Notre Dame instead of the Blue Devils, Connecticut, South Carolina and five other finalists.
The 2019 Blue Devil commit picked up an offer from the Blue Devils last Aug. 7, according to the New Jersey Sparks’ twitter account. Patrick held an in-home visit with Michigan March 20.
Patrick is known for her all-around game, which was on display this season. She notched eight triple-doubles and one quadruple-double that included 17 points, 15 rebounds, 11 steals and 10 assists. The junior averaged 14.8 points, 11.0 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game. On the defensive end, Patrick earned 4.6 steals and 3.0 blocks per contest en route to a spot on NJ.com’s All-State third team.
The 5-foot-10 guard did not seem to be a consistent threat from 3-point range. There was only one instance this season when she knocked down two triples in a game, as Patrick finished the year with only nine made in 29 games.
Although she was one of the best players in the state last season, Patrick’s teammate and recent Michigan commit Michelle Sidor led the way with 26.3 points per game. Sidor also plays alongside Patrick in the backcourt for the New Jersey Sparks, an AAU team, and the duo led Saddle River Day to its first Non-Public B title. The Rebels fell in New Jersey’s Tournament of Champions semifinal round.
The Blue Devils have four players joining the team in the Class of 2018. Point guard Rayah Craig and forwards Uchenna Nwoke and Onome Akinbode-James have already signed with Duke. Australian guard Miela Goodchild committed March 16 and signed less than a week ago to close out the incoming class that replaces Brown, Greenwell, Bego Faz Davalos and Erin Mathias.
Patrick’s class will be tasked with replacing current junior Faith Suggs and redshirt junior Sofia Roma in the 2019-20 season.
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