Marquette Women’s Basketball Signs Three Class of 2024 Prospects

We already talked about the Marquette men’s basketball signees for the Class of 2024 earlier this week, but the fall signing period is for more than just men’s hoops! Head coach Megan Duffy and the women’s basketball team had three committed prospects turn in their national letters of intent on Wednesday as well, so let’s refresh everyone’s memories and get up to speed on who will be joining the Golden Eagles next fall.

We’ll go in order of commitment to Marquette.

Kayl Petersen

Here’s the press release download on Petersen:

Petersen, a 6-0 forward from Waupun, Wisconsin, is the 67th ranked recruit in the 2024 class by ESPNW’s recruiting rankings. A 1,000-point scorer at Waupun High School, she was named East Central Conference Player of the Year and AP All-State after her junior season. Waupun won the Division 3 State Title in 2022 while Petersen was ECC Co-Player of the Year. She was a WBCA All-State selection in her sophomore and junior year.

And Duffy’s individual quote on her:

“Kayl comes to us from just up the road in Waupun,” Duffy said. “We have watched Kayl win a high school state championship and solidify her place as one of the top players on the Nike EYBL circuit with Wisconsin Flight Elite. Her versatility and skill set continues to grow each year. Marquette fans will love her blue-collar work ethic, relentless rebounding, and ability to score inside and out.”

Here’s a wild note on Petersen: Yes, she is ranked #67 in the country by ESPN right now. She’s not the top prospect in the state of Wisconsin though, and she’s not even the top Wisconsin prospect landing in the Big East. That honor goes to Neenah’s Allie Ziebell, who is #4 in the country and has signed with UConn.

Petersen has been committed to Marquette for over a year now, making her pledge back in late October of 2022. Her commitment took Megan Duffy and her staff by surprise, as she told them while on a visit to Marquette and during a photoshoot that probably produced the pictures you can see in the Instagram post.

And after building relationships with many interested schools and seeing how some operate, Petersen’s latest visit to Marquette on Sunday was the one where she felt she needed to tell Golden Eagles coach Megan Duffy she wanted to commit.

“I was taking pictures and I asked if they had a sign that said committed,” Petersen said. “They were like, ‘Yeah, but for people that were committed.’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ They asked, ‘Seriously?’

“It was so funny.”

WisSports.net has 80 games worth of stats for Petersen at this point. During her career for Waupun, she’s averaged 17.6 points, 9.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.4 steals, and 2.2 blocks. She’s also shooting 33% from long range for her career.

Jaeda Wilson

Here’s what the press release says about Wilson:

Wilson, from Potomac, Maryland, was named First-Team All-Independent School League and Honorable Mention All-Met after her junior season in 2023. A 5’10 guard at Connelly School of the Holy Child, Wilson earned both All Private School and All Montgomery County Newcomer of the Year after her sophomore year in 2022. She was First-Team All-Private School and All-County in 2023.

And Duffy’s outlook on her:

“We are thrilled to welcome Jaeda to Milwaukee,” Duffy said. “Jaeda can play multiple positions and brings tremendous excitement to the game of basketball. Jaeda has been a great leader for her AAU program the Germantown Lady Panthers and is a young woman that people gravitate toward. We love that Jaeda will be able to score at all three levels and has been successful in a talent-rich area in the DMV.”

While Kayl Petersen is a top 100 prospect in the eyes of ESPN, Wilson isn’t that far behind her. Petersen has a number grade of 92, and Wilson is a four-star prospect at 91. Everyone on ESPN’s top 100 list — they only rank out to #100 — between 85 and 100 has a grade of 91, so Wilson’s at least in the conversation for the top 100.

Wilson committed to Marquette in early April of 2023. Easily discoverable details about her prep career were light at the time, and another summer of the club circuit did not make more information available. Such is life when it comes to high school girls’ basketball sometimes.

Leila Wells

Of course we start with the press release summary of Wells’ prep career so far:

Wells, a 5’9 guard from Chelsea, Michigan, earned First-Team All-State and First-Team All Southeastern Conference after her junior season. She has scored over 1,000 points over her first three seasons at Chelsea High School where she is also the 2022 100m hurdles state champion.

And here’s what Duffy likes about her style:

“Leila brings an incredible toughness and hard-nosed mentality to Marquette Basketball,” Duffy said. “She’s been the glue on her AAU Team Legends U with her ability to impact winning. Leila can wreak havoc on the defensive end and single handedly change the tempo of a game. Fans will love her ability to knock down the three and use her dynamic athleticism to get downhill.”

We said we were going in order of commitments, and Wells made her announcement in early July of this year. She only picked up an offer from Marquette in late May and went on a visit in late June. My suspicion is that new assistant coach Khadijah Rushdan may have played a part in things, as she was announced as joining the staff in early May.

Wells averaged 18 points, four assists, and three steals per game this past season on her way to Associated Press All-Michigan Division 2 First Team honors.

And here’s the brand new scholarship table after taking Charia Smith’s injury redshirt and Amani Jenkins’ commitment into account!