Tech star Kaela Davis leaving by mutual decision
The Georgia Tech women’s basketball team has lost one of the best players in team history as guard Kaela Davis will transfer.
A news release called it a mutual decision to part ways.
“We wish Kaela and her family the very best and we thank her for her two years in our program,” coach MaChelle Joseph said in a statement. A school spokeswoman said that the statement would be Joseph’s only comment on the matter.
On her Instagram account, Davis made her reasoning quite clear. She called leaving Tech “one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life” and expressed her love and respect for Joseph. But, she wrote, “I want to compete for a National Championship.”
Davis was named first-team All-ACC as a sophomore this past season, averaging 19.2 points on 36.4 percent shooting. She became the fastest player in team history to score 1,000 career points, reaching the standard in 52 games. She was an invitee to a tryout for the U.S. Pan American Games and World University Games teams.
Transferring has become increasingly commonplace on the women’s side of the game as it has the men’s. Notably, Diamond DeShields, a former teammates of Davis’ at Norcross, transferred from North Carolina to Tennessee after being named ACC freshman of the year.
Davis is the second player to elect to leave Tech, following freshman forward De’Ashia Jones.
Davis, who played at Norcross High and then Buford, was considered one of the top prospects in the country in the 2013 class, the sort of elite, homegrown prospect that Joseph had sought to develop the Yellow Jackets into a contender for ACC championships.
Last season, the Jackets, plagued by injuries, finished the season 19-15 and missed the NCAA tournament for the second time in three years after reaching the tournament the previous six seasons.
About the Author
Ken Sugiura is a sports columnist at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Formerly the Georgia Tech beat reporter, Sugiura started at the AJC in 1998 and has covered a variety of beats, mostly within sports.
