Dazia Lawrence, a fifth-year graduate student, joined the Kentucky Wildcats Women’s Basketball team over the summer. The former Charlotte star is using her final year of eligibility to make waves in Kentucky blue and white.
One thing to know about the veteran, though, is that she’s the team’s natural leader.
“They’ve [the team] communicated very early that I need to be a leader for this team just because of how long I’ve been playing,” Lawrence said in an interview on Media Day. “Just the adversity I’ve gone through as well in my career, I have a lot of wisdom and knowledge about the game, so just bringing that to the team.”
At Charlotte, the guard averaged 18.2 points and 4.2 rebounds per game last season. She also added 2.6 assists and 1.7 steals. Lawrence played her first four college seasons as a 49er but decided to make the switch to Kentucky after deliberation with head coach Kenny Brooks. Ciara Gregory, Kentucky’s new Director of Recruiting Operations & Assistant Coach, was formerly the assistant coach at Lawrence’s previous school.
“That’s so funny, she [Gregory] played a pivotal role,” Lawrence said. “Her coming her was very unexpected, and then I was joking with her. Honestly I was like ‘Coach B is going to call,’ but it was literally a joke. But then it happened, it turned into reality.“
Lawrence also said the rest of the coaching staff has been very welcoming. Coach Gregory, though Lawrence calls her Coach C, took a step back during her visit to give the guard time to gel with the other coaches.
“You can tell they really want the betterment of the players here. Whether that’s whatever you want to do post-college, they’re all for that,” she said.
But it wasn’t just the coaches that attracted Lawrence to Lexington, it was the opportunity in the SEC.
“I think my ability to score, you know, that would probably be the biggest thing,” she said. “Just scoring the ball at a very high level, getting my teammates involved, you know. Kicking out finding an open person, playing on both ends of the floor defensively. I feel like I played with a lot of energy at Charlotte, so that would be another thing that would translate over [to the SEC].”
