Virginia Women's Basketball Signs Miami Transfer Latasha Lattimore
Coach Mox strikes again in the transfer portal.
Virginia women's basketball announced on Wednesday the signing of its second transfer addition of the offseason, 6'4" Miami forward Latasha Lattimore, who comes to UVA with two years of eligibility remaining.
“I am extremely excited to officially welcome ‘Tash’ into our family,” said UVA head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton. “She fits seamlessly into our culture and style of play. Our fanbase will love her game, but also who she is as person even more. Tash is a high-character student-athlete with a dynamic personality. At 6-4, she is a versatile forward who can shoot, drive and score in the low post, while also being a dominant rebounder and shot blocker. Under our staff’s tutelage, I know her game will flourish.”
A 6'4" forward from Toronto, Ontario, Lattimore was once the No. 38-ranked overall prospect in her recruiting class and the top-ranked player in Canada per ESPN. Lattimore's career began at Texas, where she appeared in 32 games as a true freshman and helped the Longhorns win the Big 12 and make a run to the Elite Eight. She then transferred to Miami, where she spent the last two seasons, but had her time significantly impacted by injury.
Lattimore played just nine games in the 2022-2023 season before suffering a season-ending ACL injury and redshirting the rest of the year. She had been playing the best basketball of her career before that and even posted a monstrous 25-point, 10-rebound double-double in a win over Boston University.
After recovering from the injury, Lattimore came back to play 27 games this past season, including six starts. In 15.0 minutes per game, Lattimore averaged 5.6 points, 3.1 rebounds, and a career-high 1.3 blocks per game. She had one of her better performances against Virginia on February 22nd, dropping 10 points and nine rebounds in 25 minutes played. It was a three-point game with less than five minutes to go, but the Cavaliers closed on a 14-0 run to earn a 77-60 win on that night at JPJ.
At the end of the season, Katie Meier retired from her position as Miami's head coach after a 19-year run that saw her become the school's all-time winningest coach (men's or women's) with 362 victories and lead the Hurricanes to 10 NCAA Tournament appearances. Lattimore soon entered the transfer portal for a second time, looking for a new home.
That new home kept her in the ACC, as Lattimore is headed to Virginia and will provide much needed experience and production to UVA's depleted front court. The Cavaliers lost key forwards Camryn Taylor, Sam Brunelle, and London Clarkson and return only Edessa Noyan and Taylor Lauterbach in their front court.
Coach Mox and company have done well to address that area, bringing in two transfer forwards from major conference programs. Lattimore, who has two years of eligibility remaining, joins Hawa Doumbouya, a 6'7" center who transferred to Virginia from Maryland last week with three years of eligibility remaining. UVA is also bringing in 6'2" forward and four-star recruit Breona Hurd (Waynesville, MO) as an incoming freshman this summer.
It might be jarring for followers of UVA women's basketball not to see the likes of Taylor, Brunelle, and Clarkson, but Virginia's front court could still be very good next year if these additions come together.