Photo: Lady Gator Taliyah Austin (seated) is joined by coaches Justin Neely and Angela Allen-Harris as Austin signed with Williams Baptist University, Arkansas. (Courtesy photo)
Part of the Lake Cormorant girls’ basketball success this past season this week committed to her college basketball destination for next year. That’s when Taliyah Austin announced and signed an offer to play for Williams Baptist University.
Austin, a six-foot center for the Lady Gators, averaged nearly six points a game in helping her team earn a 9-12 record in the 2023-24 campaign.
Williams Baptist, located in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, is an NAIA school that plays in the American Midwest Conference and is coached by John Mayberry. This past season, the Lady Eagles finished with a 24-7 record and was 13-1 at home.
The Lady Eagles reached the conference finals and the first round of the NAIA tournament.
Helping celebrate Austin’s commitment were outgoing Lake Cormorant coach Justin Neely, who recently became the new boys’ basketball coach at Hernando, and Neely’s assistant Angela Allen-Harris, who became the Lady Gators’ new head coach when Neely left for Hernando.
