By Marissa Essenburg | Sports Writer
Three days after opening its transfer portal haul, Baylor women’s basketball kept its offseason momentum rolling Tuesday, adding SEC guards Trinity Turner and Tianna Thompson to head coach Nicki Collen’s retooled roster.
With two years of remaining eligibility apiece, Turner and Thompson give Baylor instant experience and complementary skill sets in the backcourt. Turner arrives after steering Georgia’s offense and anchoring its perimeter defense, while Thompson brings one of the league’s most efficient shooting profiles following a breakout season at Ole Miss.
Turner, a 5‑foot‑6 point guard and former Georgia assist leader, comes to Waco as a true two‑way floor general. She averaged 11.5 points and 3.8 assists per game and started in 91% of her appearances for the Bulldogs.
She’ll bolster Collen’s backcourt alongside Baylor star Taliah Scott, a fellow Orange County, Fla., high school basketball legend.
“She is a proven point guard who can both score and facilitate at the highest level,” Collen said. “Her midrange game is elite, and she has the ability to put her teammates in position to succeed. Trinity is a special on-ball defender who can set the tone for our defense. She loves the game of basketball, and our fans will see her passion in the way she leads.”
A former four-star recruit ranked among ESPN’s Top 100 prospects, the three-time Florida Dairy Farmers Class 7A Player of the Year and three-time state champion arrived at the college level with a proven winner’s pedigree. Like Scott, scoring came with ease, as she finished her high school career just two points shy of 2,000 while also totaling 1,000 rebounds and over 700 assists.
Turner finished her sophomore season tabbing 150 assists, ranking eighth in the SEC, while her 4.7 assists per game placed her seventh in the conference.
Coupled with a pair of career-high 28-point outings against Georgia Tech and LSU, she brings the backcourt versatility Baylor has been searching for following Jana Van Gytenbeek’s graduation.
But Collen’s portal work didn’t end there, as Baylor also signed 5-foot-10 shooting guard Tianna Thompson.
Third time’s the charm for the Atlanta native, who began her collegiate career at Georgia Tech before finding her stride in a breakout sophomore season at Ole Miss.
After two stops through the SEC and ACC, Thompson now heads to Baylor carrying the kind of perimeter firepower the Bears had sought after the departure of Yuting Deng.
“She is a versatile guard with elite shot-making ability,” Collen said. “Tianna is a high-level 3-point shooter who can also score off the bounce. Her length allows her to play the passing lanes and create offense off her defense. Tianna is a strong student and will be an excellent representative of Baylor University in the Waco community.”
Before her journey through the college game, Thompson was named the 2023 Metro Atlanta Player of the Year after becoming The Galloway School’s first 2,000-point scorer and leading the program to a state championship game appearance.
In her lone season in Oxford, the former ESPN Top 100 recruit led the Rebels from beyond the arc, knocking down 37 threes on 89 attempts for a team‑best 41.6%.
Scoring in double figures eight times during her sophomore campaign, Thompson provided steady production in a reserve role, averaging 6.0 points in 15 minutes per game while tallying 29 steals and 27 assists.
Together, Turner and Thompson give Baylor two battle-tested additions to welcome into the Big 12 and another step forward in reshaping a backcourt built for both now and the future.
