UCLA Women's Basketball Offers Class of 2024 Guard Taliyah Parker
Coach Cori Close and the Bruins have entered the race for one of the top-ranked recruits in the class of 2024.
Coming off the heels of 2023 point guard Jada Williams’ decommitment from UCLA women’s basketball, the blue and gold have added a new playmaker to their recruiting board – albeit one that’s a year behind. Putnam City West High School (OK) guard Taliyah Parker announced Tuesday on Twitter that she had received an offer from the Bruins.
UCLA joins Texas Tech, Arkansas, Eastern Michigan, Baylor, Florida, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Houston, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Ohio State, Alabama, Florida State, Kentucky, UCF, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Syracuse, Vanderbilt, Rutgers Missouri, Miami, Tennessee, Oregon and USC in becoming the 27th school to offer Parker.
Parker is the second-highest ranked prospect the Bruins have offered for the class of 2024 thus far. According to the espnW’s HoopGurlz rankings, the 6-foot-1 guard is a five-star recruit who ranks as the No. 1 guard and No. 6 overall player in her class.
No. 4-ranked recruit Kendall Dudley – who received an offer on June 7 – is the only other Bruin target that is listed above Parker in the rankings.
Despite game-by-game statistics being unavailable for Parker’s junior season at Putnam City West, her MaxPreps page shows highlights of several multi-steal performances, as well as instances where the rangy guard knocks down 3-point shots.
MaxPreps also reported that Parker was added to her school’s girl’s volleyball roster in June, giving her a chance to compete in two sports while scholarship offers are mulled. The Oklahoma City native also plays for Banshees Basketball Club on the adidas 3SSB circuit and stars as one of the leading players on its 17U squad.
UCLA recently offered another guard in the class of 2024 – Britt Prince, who is the No. 11 overall player in espnW’s HoopGurlz rankings. Like Parker, Prince is also an out-of-state option for the Bruins.
Close’s class of 2022 starred Texas native Christeen Iwuala and Washington, DC, prospect Kiki Rice – and that doesn’t even include the handful of international players who have arrived over the past few years – showing that the Bruins are not afraid to recruit heavily outside of the SoCal region.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF TALIYAH PARKER/TWITTER