Rutgers women's basketball makes another splash in transfer portal, adding 4-star Mya Petticord
The Rutgers women's basketball team got another player in the transfer portal this weekend, adding freshman guard Mya Petticord from Texas A&M. She spent one season with the Aggies and will have three years of eligibility to play on the Banks.
Originally hailing from Detroit, Petticord was a consensus four-star recruit coming out of high school in the class of 2022 and was ranked 81st according to ESPNW's recruiting rankings. That same class produced a current Scarlet Knight in freshman guard Kaylene Smikle, ranked 64th.
During her lone season in College Station, Texas, Petticord averaged 2.7 points per game (PPG) and 1.7 rebounds per game on a Texas A&M team that only won nine games last season. Her stats may not be overly high, but that was also partly because she played in a very balanced rotation, as every player on the Aggie roster averaged more than 10 minutes per game.
Petticord joins Rutgers as a tough point guard who showcases great court awareness and some scoring ability, even in her limited role at Texas A&M. She can help fill the role of a primary ball handler for the Knights, as they finished last in the Big Ten in assists per game and had the worst turnovers and assist-to-turnover ratio in the conference. The 5-foot-9 guard also flashed her shooting ability in her freshman season, making all 13 of her free throw attempts on the year.
Adding another ball handler to the team can help take some of the load off Smikle, as she was the only player on the team to average more than 10 PPG. Her addition also helps relieve pressure from senior guard Awa Sidibe, who served as the lead guard, taking the ball up the court even after Smikle was inserted in the starting lineup in December 2022.
Sidibe led the team in assists but also struggled with turnovers. It became a team-wide issue, as Sidibe, Smikle and former senior guard Kai Carter all had more than 100 turnovers and negative assist-to-turnover ratios.
With another addition from the portal, head coach Coquese Washington is slowly building up a young core at Rutgers. Petticord joins Smikle, freshman guard Antonia Bates, incoming freshman guard Jillian Huerter and transfer wing Destiny Adams as Knights with two or more years of eligibility remaining.
Petticord's addition sets the roster at nine players, with Carter entering the transfer portal and graduate student guard Abby Streeter out of eligibility. Even with the recent additions through the transfer portal, Washington will still look to get more players in the transfer portal before the start of next season.
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