Pitt women’s basketball has put in work on the recruiting trail this offseason under new head coach Tory Verdi and hosted a top Class of 2025 recruit this past weekend.
Caliyah ‘Lil Bit’ DeVillasee took an unofficial visit to Pitt to visit the program this past weekend and posted on her Instagram story about her visit. DeVillasee plays for Our Lady of Good Counsel High School in Olney, Md. and for Elevate Elite U16 3SSB in the Adidas Circuit for travel ball.
DeVillasee holds a number of offers from a far ranging list of schools. She has offers from ACC schools in Boston College, North Carolina, Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest, Big Ten schools in Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State and Penn State, Big 12 schools in Cincinnati, Kansas State, Texas Tech, UCF and West Virginia, SEC schools in Kentucky and Ole Miss, Big East schools in Providence and St. John’s, Atlantic-10 schools in Dayton, George Mason and George Washington American schools in Charlotte, Memphis and SMU, Sun Belt schools in James Madison and Marshall, Colonial schools in Delaware, Elon, Towson and William & Mary, MEAC schools in Coppin State and Howard, along with Arizona State Long Beach State.
She hails from Baltimore and ESPN HoopGurlz ranked her as the No. 39 player in her class, leading to such a high interest from schools across the country.
DeVillasee averaged 17.9 points, 3.4 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 2.1 steal per game, respectively, as a sophomore last season.
She stands 5-foot-7 and is a guard that shows no fear in whoever is attempting to guard her. The best qualities she possesses are her dribbling and using that to go through opponents to score at the rim. She also can hit jumpers from mid-range/behind the arc and is solid as an on-ball defender, with the penchant to get a steal or two. While functioning as a primary scorer, DeVillasee has great court vision and is able to find her teammates with ease, even in tight situations.
Pitt women’s basketball has two players in the Class of 2024 so far. Forward Kiara Williams, who plays for Palm Bay Magnet High School in Melbourne, Fla. committed last Monday. Small forward Audrey Biggs was the first to join, when she committed back in June. Biggs hails from Catlettsburg, Ky. and plays for nearby Boyd County High School.
The Panthers had two top 100 recruits in the Class of 2024 they spent time heavily recruiting in guard Aaliyah Guyton and forward Laura Williams. Despite being in the top five schools for both players, they chose to go elsewhere, with Guyton committing to Iowa on Monday and Laura Williams committing to USC on Tuesday.
Verdi and his coaching staff will start their first official practice of the season on Wednesday, but their work with recruiting has shown they are dedicated to making Pitt women’s basketball a competitive program again.
