Kellie Harper kept the Lady Vols’ previous three signees on board once she took over as head coach. Now, she’s brought in a fourth prospect to Tennessee’s 2019 signing class.
Tennessee announced on Thursday that Australian three-point specialist Jessie Rennie has officially signed with the Lady Vols. Rennie committed to Tennessee while Holly Warlick was still the head coach, and she decided to stay with her commitment after the head coaching change.
“We are happy to be adding Jessie Rennie to the Lady Vol family,” Harper said via a statement. “My staff and I look forward to getting to work with all four of our incoming freshmen when they arrive on campus in May.”
Rennie hails from Kangaroo Flat in the Australian state of Victoria. The 5-foot-6 guard played for both the Bendigo Spirit of the Women’s National Basketball League and the Bendigo Lady Braves of the South East Australian Basketball League.
This past season, Rennie tore her ACL and had to sit out the entire 2018 season. She has since recovered, though, and she should be able to participate this fall. Before that, Rennie connected on 36.4 percent of her three-pointers and averaged 6.2 points per game in 2017.
Rennie has done all of this while battling Type I diabetes as well.
When healthy, Rennie shows a lot of promise as a point guard and a shooter. She has a compact stroke and finds her shot effectively. She’s also a strong passer and is efficient in setting up her teammates. For her size, she’s actually pretty good at getting to the bucket and finishing layups in the lane, too.
Rennie joins the Lady Vols’ three other signees in the 2019 class. Though she’s not rated as an international prospect, she helps Tennessee’s already fairly loaded class become even more well-rounded.
Tennessee signed consensus No. 1 guard and No. 2 overall player Jordan Horston as well as five-star forward and No. 46 overall (according to ESPN) player Tamari Key. The Lady Vols also signed 6-foot-5 post player Emily Saunders, who is rated as high as No. 86 overall by ProspectsNation.com.
It was officially announced earlier this week that former starting point guard Evina Westbrook would keep her name in the NCAA transfer portal and not return next season. But the Lady Vols did get the news that 6-foot-3 Australian forward Lou Brown was granted a medical hardship waiver and would be eligible to play in the 2019-20 season after she tore her ACL in practice in October and missed the entire 2018-19 season.
