The University of Texas (UT) Longhorns women’s basketball team has strengthened its backcourt by signing former Brigham Young University (BYU) guard Shaylee Gonzales, according to a program-issued press release.
In Gonzales, the Longhorns receive the incumbent West Coast Conference Player of the Year who’s also an All-American, the release said.
“Help us welcome Shaylee to the Forty Acres!” the team tweeted.
Head coach Vic Schaefer said in the release that Gonzales will suit up for UT in the 2022-2023 season as she has two years of eligibility remaining.
The 5-foot-10 Gilbert, Arizona native lettered three years at BYU, where she logged 88 career games and averaged nearly 18 points per game (PPG) and around four assists per game (APG) for the Cougars.
Austin NBC affiliate KXAN reported that Gonzales was a huge part of a turnaround at the private Utah institution.
The Longhorns’ release said that Gonzales helped steer BYU upward in the polls.
The Cougars’ Top 20 finish matched that of the 1980 team, per the release.
She left Provo as the 10th all-time highest scorer in school history.
According to the release, Gonzales is on a shortlist for the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award.
Gonzales, a former Arizona Girls Basketball Gatorade Player of the Year while at Gilbert Mesquite High School, joins a Longhorns team that’s fresh from a campaign that saw it capture the Big XII title and enter the NCAA Tournament as the second seed in the Spokane Region.
In his second season in Austin, Schaefer took UT to another Elite Eight appearance.