By Jocelyn VerVelde, TTU Sports Information Coordinator/Women's Basketball contact

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech women's basketball team and head coach Jim Davis have announced the addition of guard Samaria Howard, a Jacksonville, Fla., native. 

"Samaria comes from a very well-coached junior college program (Florida State College at Jacksonville)," said Davis. "She will give us scoring to help replace scoring we have lost. She is an ultra-quick guard with a great shooting touch. She's really quick off her feet and can score, and she is also a very athletic defender with great upper body strength. Her upper body strength also enables her to get to the rim easily."

Howard, a 5-foot-7 guard, comes to Cookeville from FSCJ where she averaged 15.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 2.6 assists. She also was named the team MVP at FSCJ, received first-team all-conference, first-team All-State, and NJCAA All-American honorable mention.

"When I was choosing schools, it came down to Tennessee Tech and another Ohio Valley Conference school and the determining factor was academics," explained Howard on her committing to the Golden Eagle program. "The academics at TTU are great. They have my major, coaching and sports administration, and the other school only had it as a minor. Here at Tech, I will have the opportunity to work as an intern following my playing career. I would be able to work with the coaches and team after I graduate based on my academic progress. I take academics seriously because I will go further in life with my academics after basketball is over.

"They have a great tradition here in women's basketball," Howard continued. "I love the coaching staff. I built a great relationship with them over the time they recruited me. They were very persistent. They wanted to bring me in to make an immediate impact, especially in scoring, and to be a leader. Coming from junior college I only have two years, unlike a freshmen who has four years and has more time to develop."

Prior to FSCJ, Howard played her prep career at Englewood High School where she surpassed 1,000 points in three seasons on varsity. During her senior year she was named the Marine Corps Player of the Year, and was named to the Times-Union All First Coast Basketball team during her junior and senior seasons.

Howard joins previous signees Asia Harper and Yaktavia ‘Shug’ Hickson. Harper is a 6-foot forward from Fayetteville, Ga., while Hickson, a 5-foot-11 guard, hails from Stone Mountain, Ga.