The future of Duke women’s basketball has become clear over the last few months.
First, the Blue Devils hired Kara Lawson as the team's next head coach, and an experienced assistant coaching core followed suit. In late September, Lawson's first two verbal commitments came within days of one another. And now just a month later, the program has set its sights on a prosperous future with its first landmark recruit.
Shay Bollin, the 19th-ranked player in ESPN’s Class of 2022 rankings, has verbally committed to Duke as the first four-star recruit in Lawson’s tenure. The 6-foot-3 forward is the Blue Devils' highest-ranked commit since current senior Jade Williams, who was ranked No. 14 overall in the Class of 2017.
According to her ESPN profile, Bollin is a versatile stretch-four with extended range who is strong and aggressive on the glass and agile in transition.
Back in August, Bollin spoke about her recruitment process with The Patriot Ledger, with specifics on her emerging relationship with Lawson and the Blue Devils. At that time, she had received approximately 40 Division 1 offers, including ones from South Carolina, N.C. State, Ohio State, Stanford and Tennessee.
“I love Duke,″ Bollin told the Patriot Ledger. “I think [Lawson’s] awesome. I’ve talked to her a couple of times. I think she’s a really good person, a really good coach. I’m really excited to see what she does at Duke.″
The article added that as a sophomore last season at Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School, Bollin averaged 18.8 points, 10 rebounds, 2.5 blocks and 2.2 steals across 24 games, posting 15 double-doubles and sinking 50 threes.
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