Get to know the new faces ahead of the Woman’s Basketball Season. This season is going to look different for the Bearcats as they two seniors who both have played a key role for the red and black in the last four years, but will feature eight new faces for the upcoming season. Senior forward Ilmar’i Thomas who is 3rd all time in scoring with 1900+ points as well as 900+ rebounds for the Bearcats over the last four years, announced back in March she was going to transfer as a graduate transfer. Thomas announced on April 4th she would be taking her talents to UCLA to play for the Bruins. Ilmar’i who came to the University of Cincinnati when she was just 16 years old not only built her career, but she cemented a legacy along the way. Thomas played the role as a conference player of the year in 2021, but also as the leader of the Bearcats team, so seeing her move onto the next chapter of her career is a big loss. The Bearcats also will lose senior guard Addaya Moore as she decided to transfer as a graduate student as well where she intends to go back home to her home state of Illinois to finish her career where she will attend Western Illinois University. Moore missed most of the 2020-21 season after suffering a season ending knee surgery after four games.
The Bearcats head coach Michelle Clark-Heard has done a fantastic job this offseason on bringing recruits to the University of Cincinnati whether it is transfers or freshman this upcoming year. Clark-Heard has gone all out this offseason as she has hit the nail on the head as she’s been recruiting all over the world as she landed two commitments from overseas, even in a pandemic that didn’t stop coach Clark-Heard from wanting to make this program even better.
The 1st player Coach Clark-Heard landed a commitment from was guard Akira Levy, who is from Baxter, Tennessee as she comes to the University of Cincinnati as a transfer from Vanderbilt. Levy was actually on campus this past semester, but is going to play a big role for the Bearcats. She was one of the players on the court immediately after every home game for the Bearcats to get some extra work in that I noticed which shows the kind of player and leader the Bearcats will be getting.
The 2nd player the Bearcats landed was Emerita Mashaire who is from Finland where she played in the top basketball leagues overseas as she played in the FIBA for the HBA Marsky for the U20 national team. Mashaire will provide the Bearcats a forward who is capable of playing on and off the ball, with the ability to score a lot of points, not only that, but she provides a lot of experience as this Bearcats team is very young heading into the next season so that will play a big role for the Bearcats to have around as she’s played versus some of the top talent all across the world.
