Senior Ramani Parker enters transfer portal
Another member of the Mississippi State women’s basketball team is on the move.
A source first told Maroon and White Daily that senior forward Ramani Parker entered the transfer portal on Friday afternoon. Parker has one more year of eligibility after going down with a knee injury early on the season and missing the majority of the 2023-24 basketball season.
This is the second move for Parker since starting her college career at Louisville. In her two seasons in Starkville, Parker played in 24 ball games and started in two while averaging 4.6 points and 4.0 rebounds. She missed several games in 2022-23 with a concussion but was ultimately an important piece off of the bench as she averaged 4.8 points and 3.9 rebounds while blocking 15 shots and making 39% of her 3-point shots.
Her playing time looked like it was going to grow this past season before Parker went down with a knee injury just two games into the season. She was expected to help State next year in her final season, but Parker has decided to move on for one more year elsewhere.
A former four-star recruit out of the state of California, Parker was the No. 99 player in the country by ESPN and transferred to Montverde Academy in Florida for her senior year. She chose Louisville out of high school and played for assistant coach Sam Purcell there for three seasons before following the coach to Starkville.
After redshirting in year one, Parker played in 17 games off the bench in 2020-21 and had 2.7 points and 2.2 rebounds a game. She played in 14 games in 2021-22 for a team that went to the Final Four and averaged 3.1 minutes per contest.
Parker is the fourth player to hit the transfer portal from MSU. She joins fellow senior Nyayongah Gony and rising sophomores Mjracle Sheppard and Jasmine Brown to hit the portal. On top of those transfers, MSU has lost three starters to graduation in Lauren Park-Lane, Jessika Carter and Erynn Barnum.
As it stands, only five players return from last year’s roster with second-team All-SEC player Jerkaila Jordan back along with fellow starter Debreasha Powe and top bench player Darrione Rogers all expected back. Rising sophomore Quanirah Montague and another center in Rocio Jimenez will also be returning along with the addition of three high school players.
State is also pushing to add some elite talent out of the portal. The Bulldogs are hosting Kentucky guard Eniya Russell on campus currently and have one of the top players in the country on the way for a visit on Saturday in LSU’s Hailey Van Lith.
