By RENALDO DORSETT
Tribune Sports Reporter
rdorsett@tribunemedia.net
AS she heads into the final year of her stellar prep basketball career, Bahamas national team standout Denika Lightbourne ended her sought after recruitment by committing to a Division I programme.
Lightbourne officially signed with the Daytona Flyers of the Atlantic-10 conference and will join head coach Tamika Williams-Jeter’s programme next fall.
The dynamic 5’10” guard out of Tallulah Falls High School in Georgia, highlights the first recruiting class for Williams-Jeter to begin her coaching tenure with the Flyers.
Dayton finished 26-6, 14-1 in the Atlantic 10 in the 2021-22 season. They ended the year in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament with a loss to the no. 6 seed Georgia Bulldogs.
At the high school level, Lightbourne’s junior season was highlighted by leading TFS to its first-ever regional title and first trip to the Elite Eight. They finished 15-5 overall and were ranked as high as no.7 in the state polls. An All-State selection, she scored 342 points, eighth on the single season total in school history.
She enters her senior season with 971 career points and with 433 rebounds, she could become just the second 1,000-point, 500-rebound member in school history.
At the international level, Lightbourne emerged as a rising star last summer when she led the senior women’s national team to a third place finish at the 2022 CBC Championships.
She averaged 14.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and three steals per game.
Some of her top performances included 17 points against Cuba and 16 points against The Dominican Republic and capped her run with 12 points, six rebounds, five steals and three assists in the bronze-medal game against Jamaica.
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