© Gregg Pachkowski / gregg@pnj.com / USA
Pitt Women's Basketball Hosts Two JUCO Recruits
Pitt Panthers women's basketball hosted two talented JUCO recruits as they look to build their roster.
PITTSBURGH -- Pitt Panthers women's basketball is looking to rebuild under head coach Tory Verdi, as they hosted two junior college transfers over the weekend.
Pitt Assistant coaches in Candice Finley, also recruiting coordinator, and Anthony Brammer, also director of NIL, hinted at hosting potential recruits on their social media. April features as one of the busiest months for coaching staffs, in terms of working with the transfer portal to bring new recruits on visits.
The Panthers brought in two junior college targets from the same school in Northwest Florida State College in the city of Niceville, on the panhandle.
The two athletes that came in were guard Destiney McPhaul and center Célia Rivière, who both excelled individually and together with the rest of the team over these past two seasons.
McPhaul posted a photo of her and Rivière at the Petersen Events Center on her Instagram story, plus a tour of the facility and then a beautiful view of the city of Pittsburgh from Mount Washington.
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Destiney McPhaul Instagram story
The duo won the NJCAA Division I National Championship in 2023 and finished as runner-ups this past season, accruing a record of 59-8 over that time.
Originally starting out at her hometown school of Temple, McPhaul had to sit out the 2021-22 season due to NCAA transfer rules and eventuallly would leave the team to go the JUCO route.
She excelled in her first season, scoring 12.0 points, making 2.2 steals, and grabbing 5.9 rebounds per game, respectively, all second-best on the team.
Rivière hails from France and played professionally for Lattes Montpellier before coming to Northwest Florida State.
She scored 7.2 points per game, shot 48.5% from the field, grabbing 4.7 rebounds per game and dished out 1.3 assists per contest en route to the National Title.
Rivière also played for the France U-20 National Team back in summer of 2023 at the U-20 European Championship in the cities of Klaipėda and Vilnius in Lithuania. She averaged 4.3 points, 1.6 rebounds and 0.9 steals per game, respectively, while playing around 11.6 minutes per contest as France won the Championship in a blowout over Latvia.
The two Pitt targets came back this season for Northwest Florida State and assumed larger roles within the team and improved upon their individual games.
McPhaul led the team scoring 15.0 points, making 2.1 steals and creating 4.2 assists per game, respectively, as well as shooting 82.3% from the foul line. She also shot 49.4% from the field and 36.2% from 3-point range, plus making 4.2 rebounds per game.
She excelled in the National Tournament, averaging 25.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.75 assists and 2.0 steals per game, while shooting 50% from the field and 87.5% from the foul line.
Rivière finished right behind McPhaul, as she scored 12.5 points per game and shot 78.3% from the foul line and was also second shooting 56.8% from the field. She led Northwest Florida State with 6.8 rebounds per game and was third with 3.0 assists per game.
She scored 8.75 points and made 5.25 rebounds per game, respectively, while shooting 54.2% from the field and 75% from the foul line during the posteason, getting her team back to the championship game.
Both players received All-American honors for their play last season, with McPhaul making the First Team and Rivière landing on the Second Team.
Pitt is not the only team in for both players' services, as McPhaul took a visit to Mississippi State in early March, and Rivière made visits to Illinois and rival West Virginia recently, according to her recent Instagram stories.
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