The trajectory of the Missouri women’s basketball changed when hometown hero Sophie Cunningham officially signed with Missouri in 2015. Cunningham, ranked 28th in ESPN’s 2015 HoopGurlz Recruiting rankings, was the first top 100 recruit of the decade.
Cunningham was a game changer for Coach Robin Pingeton and the program.
Fast forward three years and Missouri has landed its second program changing guard, dethroning Cunningham as the Tigers' highest rated recruit. ESPN’s No. 8 ranked player, Aijha Blackwell, verbally committed to the Tigers via Twitter on Monday night.
The 6-foot-1 guard out of Whitfield School in St. Louis chose Missouri over Kansas and Louisville.
Blackwell joins Hayley Frank and Micah Linthacum in Missouri’s 2019 recruiting class. Both Blackwell and Frank are ranked in ESPN’s top 100, with Frank checking in at No. 29. The is the first time Mizzou has had multiple top 30 players in one class under Pingeton.
The Tigers are continuing to build on top of last year’s recruiting class that featured top 100 players Grace Berg and Akira Levy. 2018 was the first recruiting class since Cunningham’s that had multiple ESPN Top 100 players.
Blackwell was a member of the USA U18 National Team in 2018. She averaged 9.3 points-per-game on 47 percent shooting with Team USA in route to winning gold in Mexico City. Blackwell started four out of the six games in the tournament.
Blackwell has been named all-state in Missouri Class 3 every year in high school. She averaged 24.2 points per game and shot 61.8% from the field, including 40% from three-point range last season.
