TEMPE, Ariz. – Arizona State University head women's basketball coach Charli Turner Thorne today announced that four-year transfer Sara Hattis will be joining the Sun Devils for the 2016-17 season.
Hattis, a 6-4 forward, will be transferring to ASU from the University of Texas where she recently earned her degree in physical culture & sports.
"We are thrilled to have Sara joining our Sun Devil family," Turner Thorne said. "We recruited Sara out of high school and knew then she would be an impactful player and teammate for us. Now four years later, she brings all the tremendous qualities we first recognized in addition to maturity and experience.
"Sara is going to be able to help us on both sides of the ball. Her ability to score and defend will be evident immediately. The fact that we have a foreign tour (to Costa Rica) this summer is incredibly advantageous for us to integrate Sara and all of our new players into our program and prepare for what we hope to be a very special season."
An exceptionally talented athlete, Hattis was a member of both the Longhorn volleyball and women's basketball squads in 2012-13 and 2014-15 before committing to basketball on a year-round basis prior to the 2015-16 academic year. Hattis played in 51 games in her three seasons as a member of the Longhorn women's basketball team (joined the squad after the conclusion of volleyball season in 2012-13 and 2014-15).
The last two seasons Hattis was a contributor on Longhorn squads that went a combined 55-16 and made appearances in the NCAA Sweet 16 (2014-15) and Elite Eight (2015-16). Hattis played in a career-high 26 games in 2015-16 (6.0 minutes per game), including six of Texas' seven postseason contests (Big 12 and NCAA Tournaments). She would go on to be named to the Big 12's All-Academic First Team. In 2015, one of Hattis' best performances of the campaign – season highs of six points (3-4 FG), five rebounds, two blocks, and 17 minutes – came in the Longhorns' Sweet 16 contest against eventual national champion UConn.
Hattis played in 35 career matches (14 starts) for the Texas volleyball team. In each of her three seasons on the volleyball squad (2012-14), the Longhorns advanced to the NCAA Final Four and captured the national title in 2012. Hattis was in the starting lineup every season, posting a career-high six starts as a sophomore in 2013.
Hattis was highly recruited in in both basketball and volleyball, collecting numerous accolades in both sports while competing for Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. In basketball, Hattis earned all-state first-team honors her senior season and all-metro first-team recognition her junior and senior seasons. In volleyball, Hattis was tabbed the New Mexico Player of the Year and also earned Under Armour All-America Honorable Mention recognition as a senior to go along with all-state and all-metro first team honors her junior and senior seasons. Hattis, who was named Cleveland High School's Female Athlete of the Year as a senior, also competed on the track and field team her junior and senior years.
The Sun Devils return three senior starters – posts Sophie Brunner, Quinn Dornstauder, and Kelsey Moos – from the 2015-16 squad that captured a share of the Pac-12 regular season title, won 26 games (tied for third-highest win total in program history) and went on to earn a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the highest placement in program history. In addition to Hattis, the Sun Devils will welcome a five-member freshman class – Sydney Goodson, Reili Richardson, Jamie Ruden, Kiara Russell and Robbi Ryan – that was ranked among the nation's top 10 signing classes when it was announced last fall.