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Denim DeShields’ unconventional path to her college basketball dream

Denim DeShields committed to UAB earlier this year after a winding process. (Courtesy of UAB Athletics)

To understand Denim DeShields, you have to start with paper donuts.

DeShields used to cut out paper versions of the circular treat, decorate them, and then walk around the neighborhood, selling her creations for 25 cents. No one needs a paper donut, but there was something about Denim beyond the cuteness factor.

“She’s always had a great entrepreneurial spirit,” said her sister, WNBA player Diamond DeShields. “And an eagerness to financially get ahead.”

Her neighbors sensed it and would happily part with their quarters for one of her signature, albeit useless, paper donuts.

There was also a fearlessness to Denim. She was vibrant and had a never-ending zeal for life.

“When she was little, she was a firecracker full of energy,” Diamond said. “I remember her always running around my games, being the cute, younger sibling.”

Diamond remembers when Willow Smith released her song, “Whip My Hair.” Denim would run around singing the lyrics and, of course, whipping her hair all over the house.

But between her spurts of youthful energy and dreams of playing basketball like her sister, there was always a little businesswoman in her. Denim was a kid, but she was also an old soul. She still is. That firecracker has a calm side, one that remained stoic in unlikely circumstances, and one that forged its own unconventional path.

When life gives her paper, Denim makes donuts.

***

About this time last year, Denim was committed to play college basketball at Indiana State.

The Georgia native picked her school simply because she knew it. COVID-19 made it so Denim couldn’t visit any other programs, and she’d at least been on campus at Indiana State.

“I didn’t want to go to that school,” she said. “I didn’t get to go through my recruiting process the way I wanted to, physically, because of COVID. I made an impulse decision to commit there because it was the only school I’d been able to visit. From a comfortability standpoint, that was just what I decided.”

A school she knew, even if it wasn’t exactly what she wanted, was better than one she didn’t. At least, that’s what she thought.

A few months before Denim was set to report to Indiana State, Diamond, then a guard for the Chicago Sky, had some unprecedented free time. She started thinking about Denim, and how different her younger sister’s senior year had been. Diamond remembers thinking how devastated she would have felt missing out on things during her high school days — Like her last AAU season — because of COVID-19. So, she picked up the phone and dialed Denim.

The question was simple: “How are you doing?”

The answer took a lot longer to unpack.

Diamond knew she had to do something. Denim had been independent for so long, that she didn’t really know she could rely on anyone, even the people who love her.

Denim’s parents have been divorced since she was born, but she remains close with both of them. Her father, Delino DeShields, was a professional baseball player and currently serves as a coach for the Cincinnati Reds. She grew up living with her mom.

“I definitely had a different childhood compared to other people,” she said. “There are times where whole families sit at the table and eat dinner every night. For us, it was a lot different.”

Between her dad, her sister and one of her brothers, Delino Jr. (he currently plays pro baseball for the Reds), most of Denim’s days and nights were spent at sporting events.

“It was very exciting,” she said. “It was never boring.”

Then, when she was 14, Denim moved 45 minutes away to live with her high school coach. It was out of necessity, to make the commute easier and give her the opportunity to attend the school she wanted. Her mom still came to all of her games, but Denim essentially took charge of her own life.

So, when the recruiting process came around, even with all the unknowns of the pandemic, Denim relied on herself.

When she was unhappy, Denim didn’t tell anyone. When it came to school and basketball, she’d always been able to handle her business. Why ask for help now?

If it weren’t for an older sister’s intuition, Denim might not have opened up. And she might have played her freshman season at Indiana State. But as soon as Diamond heard Denim’s voice on the other end of the phone, she knew one thing.

“Just hearing her on the phone that day, with tears in her eyes, it just broke my heart,” Diamond said. “I knew I had to do something.”

Her little sister would not be going to college in 2021-22. There had to be another option.

And there was: prep school. It’s a path that plenty of men’s college basketball players have taken. They finish their four years of high school, and then take a fifth at another private school in order to improve their skills or grades, or sometimes to get bigger and stronger and enhance their recruiting prospects.

For Denim to go would be different. Yet it also made complete sense. Her life has been unconventional from the start, and this would be another step on the path she’s long been forging.

“I don’t know a high school girl who’s done it,” Diamond said of the fifth year. “I’m sure it’s been done, but it is so uncommon. In pursuing this option, I had to think outside the box. It’s not a blueprint that is common as an alternate option for women’s basketball players.”

Once she realized it could be done, Denim was all in.

With so many elite athletes in the family, comparisons are bound to happen. But since she moved out, Denim had just been Denim. For the first time in a long time, she was ready to let someone else take control of her life.

***

Denim spent the summer before her second senior year living with Diamond in Chicago, where the older DeShields sister was playing for the Sky, on their way to winning a WNBA championship. And when school started up, Denim still headed to the city for weekends when she had the chance.

Denim, Diamond says, is her best friend, but they weren’t always so close.

There are eight years between the two, and when Denim was in elementary school, that felt like a lot.

“We had such a huge age gap that we couldn’t really bond with each other,” she said. “It was kind of like, ‘Yeah, that’s my sister,’ and she would play around with me, but it took until we got a little bit older to really be able to get close to her the way I wanted to.”

Then, COVID-19 happened.

The pandemic ruined a lot of things for Denim, but it strengthened her relationship with her older sister. After years of being away playing basketball — first in college at North Carolina and Tennessee, then in Turkey, and then in the WNBA — Diamond moved home to Atlanta during the pandemic.

When Diamond left for college, they were sisters who loved each other, but after the pandemic, they also understood one another.

“We had many, many conversations, because during lockdown, all you could really do was talk,” Denim said with a laugh. “We caught up on lost time … So now, we are really close. If there is a person I go to about anything, it is always going to be her.”

Denim also used the pandemic to learn a new hobby — braiding hair, which, in typical Denim fashion, she took to the next level. Braiding her own hair, or her sister’s, wasn’t enough. So once she mastered the skills, Denim turned it into a business.

Now, she has clients in Atlanta and Chicago, and over the summer she set up shop in a Chicago hair salon called Vanity Palace. Her coworkers were all in their 40s, but Denim bonded with them, too. They check up on her via text message, and every time she’s in Chicago, Denim goes by the salon to catch up.

“She’s the only person I’ll let braid my hair,” Diamond said.

***

After her conversation with Denim, Diamond started cold-calling admissions offices and talking to people she knew in the basketball world. She spent her free time looking up different schools and doing as much research as she could. Finally, she whittled down the selections. Wherever Denim went, it had to be a good fit, but most importantly, she had to be able to play basketball, take classes and remain eligible for the next level.

La Lumiere ended up being exactly what they were looking for. The prep school of 215 students boasts several notable basketball alumni like Tyger Campbell, Jaren Jackson Jr., Jordan Poole and, most recently, Jaden Ivey. The Purdue star, who declared for the NBA Draft in March, spoke highly of his coach at La Lumiere, Matt Marvin. The basketball world is small. Small enough that word about Ivey’s experiences traveled back to Diamond.

Marvin is now the girls coach for the Lakers, and with the testimony of players like Ivey, the DeShields girls felt comfortable with him.

For Denim and Marvin, the move was mutually beneficial.

“We are getting things rolling with the girls program,” Marvin said. “This was a good opportunity to jumpstart the program.”

So Denim headed to La Lumiere. The difference between her hometown of Atlanta, and the small town of La Porte, Ind. — population 21,577 — was instantly noticeable. But Denim didn’t mind.

“It’s definitely been different,” she said. “But nothing short of memorable. I’ll always remember this place, the people and the relationships I’ve formed here. I’ve never been in this type of environment. Not just because of the location, but because of the community.”

Denim described La Lumiere, with its small student body and tight-knit supporters, as “intimate.” There’s no getting lost in the shuffle.

And most importantly, Denim got to hit repeat on her senior year.

Diamond loved seeing her little sister’s name pop up in the family group chat, recapping her experiences. One in particular sticks out: It was a picture of Denim sledding down a hill, enjoying the snow with her new teammates.

“You can see a genuine smile on her face,” Diamond said.

La Lumiere was a new beginning for Denim, but there was still plenty to do. Now, the recruiting process had to start all over again. And like anything Denim does, she approached this task with her own, unique spin.

***

Denim felt relief when she decommitted from Indiana State. Now, after choosing La Lumiere and spending the summer in Chicago, finding the right school was the whole point of all of this.

Yet when she arrived on campus, Marvin was surprised to find that Denim didn’t seem concerned about what was going to happen next. She was calm and focused on playing for the Lakers — that’s it.

Denim, Marvin says, is the consummate point guard.

“When emotions are running high, she is always in control,” he said.

Marvin remembers one of Denim’s performances, in particular. The Lakers played No. 16 South Bend Washington on Jan. 29, and Denim got in foul trouble early on.

“We kind of took a gamble leaving her in the game and letting her play with fouls,” Marvin said. “Even in a game that was so high pressure and she had foul trouble, she was totally in control of herself.”

Denim finished with 12 points, six rebounds and six assists as La Lumiere pulled out a one-point win.

The point guard is so even-tempered that sometimes Marvin wishes she would show a bit more emotion — especially when it came to her recruitment.

Until February, Denim didn’t have an official offer. Marvin was incredulous. His point guard had all the skills to be a college basketball player, and an elite one at that.

Denim is undersized at 5-foot-5, which may have impacted her recruitment, but her small stature has never been an issue for her on the court. A pass-first point guard, Denim uses her ball-handling and playmaking skills to create for others. She’s quick to the rim, fast in the open court and capable of finishing in traffic.

And, Marvin says, you can always trust her with the ball, which is why he knows she will make an impact at the next level.

“There are going to be a lot of colleges across the country that regret not trying to recruit her,” he said.

Yet as the days passed and Marvin eyed the calendar, Denim didn’t. There were no panicked conversations, no stress-fueled moments, not even a glimmer of doubt.

“She has not panicked about it at all,” Marvin said. “And there were even times where I would be like, ‘Denim, what do we do?’ And she would tell me, ‘It’s OK. I’m going to keep working hard and the right fit is gonna come.’ That’s just how she’s wired.”

Since that phone call with Diamond early last year, Denim has learned to allow others to help her. This time, Diamond was heavily involved in the recruiting process, and eventually, without any rush, Denim committed to UAB.

She knew she was meant to go to UAB from her first conversation with coach Randy Norton and his staff. This time, when she made the commitment, Denim didn’t have any second thoughts.

“It just felt right,” she said of becoming a Blazer. “My journey has been nothing but a rollercoaster, but I just put in the work and God did the rest.”

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DeShields connected with UAB head coach Randy Norton and his staff from the start. (Courtesy of UAB Athletics)

It took a year longer than planned, but Denim found her school.

“If there is anything this process has taught me, it’s just that things will work out in the end,” she said. “You can’t force anything to happen that’s not meant to be. There is no reason to stress about things.”

Denim plans to study business at UAB — no surprise there — and Diamond can’t wait to see what she does next.

“She really can do anything she sets her mind to,” she said.

Anything, like learning to braid hair and accruing clients in two different cities.

Like accepting help after years of doing things alone.

Like forging a path that high school girls basketball players have yet to try.

It’s too soon to know if other girls will follow suit. Denim made an impact at La Lumiere, but the landscape of girls prep basketball is rooted in its own traditions.

Denim, however, isn’t concerned with changing expectations as a whole. She just did things her own way.

And that isn’t likely to change any time soon.

Eden Laase is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports. She previously ran her own high school sports website in Michigan after covering college hockey and interning at Sports Illustrated. Follow her on Twitter @eden_laase.

2025 NCAA Softball Kicks Off as Oklahoma Hunts 5th-Straight World Series Win

Oklahoma and Texas line up on the softball field before the second game of the 2024 Women's College World Series.
Oklahoma will pursue their fifth-straight NCAA softball title this season. (Brian Bahr/Getty Images)

College softball is back, with a new-look Oklahoma team kicking off the 2025 NCAA season in pursuit of a fifth-straight Women's College World Series win.

Despite Oklahoma's ongoing dominance, 2025's lineup does promise significantly higher parity than seasons past.

Having graduated a number of last year's stars — including a senior class that snagged four straight national titles — the Sooners enter the season ranked third.

Instead, 2024 runner-up Texas takes the top spot, followed by perennial contenders Florida at No. 2. Both teams enter 2025 with the majority of their rosters from last season intact, earning them an edge over the revamped Sooners.

Texas star catcher Reese Atwood blasts a double during a 2024 NCAA Softball Regional game against Northwestern.
Star slugger Reese Atwood is back to lead the Texas softball offense. (David Buono/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Texas on top as SEC looms

Still hunting a first national championship, Texas returns with six starters and four of their five 2024 pitchers — including then-freshman phenom Teagan Kavan, who led the team with 20 wins last year.

Meanwhile, last season's Big 12 Player of the Year, junior catcher Reese Atwood, is back to lead the Longhorn offense.

After joining rival Oklahoma in flipping to the SEC this year, Texas is gearing up to meet their new conference foes with the No. 1 target on their backs.

"It's a great honor, to tell you the truth," Texas head coach Mike White said about the preseason ranking. "And now we got to back it up. We’ve had a team that's been called young in the years past, and now we're a little more mature."

"We have a tough slate of games ahead of us, and then, of course, the gauntlet of the SEC is ahead of us," White noted. "We’ve really just got to go play good softball now."

The impact of conference realignment will extend beyond the SEC this season. The sport's historic dynasty No. 6 UCLA is now competing in the Big Ten while No. 4 Oklahoma State is taking over the top spot in the Big 12 rankings.

Stanford pitcher NiJaree Canady winds up from the circle during a 2024 NCAA Softball Super Regionals game against LSU.
A $1 million NIL deal convinced 2024 National Player of the Year NiJaree Canady to transfer to Texas Tech. (Eakin Howard/Getty Images)

2025 NCAA softball season takes the field

As multiple teams travel to warm-weather destinations to start the season, the first week of competition showcases a slate of top-ranked matchups.

With a top-tier win already in the books, No. 4 Oklahoma State opened their 2025 campaign with a bang at the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge on Thursday. Buoyed by a trio of home runs, the Cowgirls handed No. 12 Florida State a 9-6 loss.

Waiting on deck at this week's NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Florida, are two ranked games featuring superstar pitchers.

First, No. 16 Nebraska ace Jordy Bahl — a two-time NCAA champion with Oklahoma — will likely take the circle against No. 5 Tennessee on Thursday. If she gets the start, it will mark her first game in nearly a year, as the Cornhusker transfer suffered a season-ending ACL injury in last year's opener.

Then on Friday, a revamped No. 10 Texas Tech side will face No. 25 Mississippi State, with former Stanford pitcher NiJaree Canady likely leading the charge.

The 2024 National Player of the Year transferred after her sophomore season with the Cardinal, as Texas Tech sealed the deal via a record-shattering $1 million NIL contract.

Oklahoma softball pitcher Jordy Bahl winds up during the 2023 Women's College World Series against Florida State.
Star transfer Jordy Bahl is back with Nebraska softball after missing 2024 play with an ACL tear. (Grace Bradley/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

How to watch this week's Top 25 NCAA softball games

Look for Bahl to lead No. 16 Nebraska against No. 5 Tennessee at 7 PM ET on Thursday, before No. 25 Mississippi State will contend with Canady and No. 10 Texas Tech at 5 PM ET on Friday.

Both games will stream live on the GameChanger app.

Unrivaled Basketball Drops 1v1 Tournament Bracket

Napheesa Collier and Stefanie Dolson tip off an Unrivaled basketball game.
The winner of the Unrivaled 1v1 tournament will earn $200,000 in prize money. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball's 1v1 tournament is fast approaching,​ with the offseason league dropping the competition's official bracket on Wednesday.

The head-to-head showdown tips off on Monday, February 10th, with the semifinals and three-game final series all tipping off on Friday, February 14th. 

Fan votes determined the seeding for the debut league's first-ever in-season tournament. Those ballots gave the Mist's Jewell Loyd and Vinyl's Arike Ogunbowale first-round byes, moving them straight into Tuesday's quarterfinal round.

Meanwhile, the other 28 competitors have four rounds to overcome to claim the trophy — not to mention $200,000 in prize money.

Breaking down the Unrivaled 1v1 bracket

Some early battles will be tougher than others, as Unrivaled co-founder and current scoring leader Napheesa Collier takes on fellow UConn alum Katie Lou Samuelson. The winner of that matchup then faces either Jackie Young or Rickea Jackson.

Collier's fellow co-founder Breanna Stewart — also a UConn product — drew 2024 UConn standout Aaliyah Edwards in Monday's first round. The winner subsequently earns a second-round date against either Marina Mabrey or Kate Martin.

Despite her first-round bye, Ogunbowale's bracket quadrant appears to be a gauntlet.

The guard will first battle either fellow Notre Dame alum Skylar Diggins-Smith, who has four game-winners under her belt so far this season, or Vinyl teammate Dearica Hamby.

The Olympic 3×3 bronze medalist trails only Collier and Laces star Kayla McBride on Unrivaled's score sheet, averaging 21.2 points per game. Additionally, Hamby's 10.4 rebounding average has her sitting fourth in the league.

Should they advance, either McBride or Satou Sabally will await Ogunbowale in the quarterfinals.

Ultimately, every matchup is stacked considering the star-studded league's depth.

"I just want the top dawgs to knock each other out," joked Courtney Williams ahead of her own first-round clash with Tiffany Hayes, with the winner set to square off against either Rhyne Howard or Lexie Hull.

"[If] your shot's falling, really anyone can win 1v1," she continued. "It's all about who figured it out in that moment."

An official game ball rests on the Unrivaled basketball court in Miami, Florida.
The three-day 1v1 tournament will tip off on Monday. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

How to watch next week's Unrivaled 1v1 tournament

The inaugural contest's first round tips off at 2 PM ET on Monday, with live coverage on truTV. The evening session begins at 7 PM ET on TNT.

Both the second round and quarterfinals will air on truTV starting at 7 PM ET on Tuesday, with the semifinals and finals taking over both truTV and TNT on Friday beginning at 7:30 PM ET.

No. 1 UCLA Downs No. 8 OSU in Top 10 NCAA Basketball Action

UCLA center Lauren Betts lifts a shot over Ohio State during Wednesday's Big Ten basketball game.
UCLA center Lauren Betts registered 19 points and 14 rebounds in Wednesday's win. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

No. 1 UCLA added another Top 10 NCAA basketball win to their 2024/25 resume on Wednesday, tallying their second of the season after holding off Big Ten foe No. 8 Ohio State 65-52.

Despite Buckeye freshman Jaloni Cambridge's game-leading 21 points, Ohio State fell to a tough UCLA defense. The Bruins clamped down in the second and fourth quarters, relinquishing just 18 points to the Buckeyes across those two periods.

Meanwhile, UCLA junior Lauren Betts continued her National Player of the Year campaign, scoring a team-high 19 points plus 14 rebounds after clinching the double-double before the first-half buzzer.

Star junior guard Gabriela Jaquez narrowly trailed Betts, posting 17 points to help push UCLA over the line.

The victory marks a program-record 22nd consecutive win for the still-undefeated Bruins — their longest winning streak since 1978.

"I told the team after the game that these games are fun when they're close," Jaquez said afterwards. "This might have been one of the first games where it got close."

Top 10 NCAA upset rattles the Big 12

Wednesday didn't pan out as smoothly in the Big 12, where No. 12 Kansas State upset No. 9 TCU 59-50 in the Wildcats' first Top 10 win of the season. The victory broke the pair's tie atop the conference standings, putting Kansas State firmly in control of the Big 12.

While the Wildcat defense stifled TCU top scorers Sedona Prince and Hailey Van Lith, holding them to a respective 14 and 10 points, Kansas State senior Serena Sundell showed out on offense. The guard scored a season-high 27 points — 15 of which came during the Wildcats' third-quarter surge.

"[Sundell] lived at the rim," TCU head coach Mark Campbell told reporters after the game. "She absolutely destroyed us in the post. She just shot layups and layups and layups. That's what makes her unique is she's a 6-foot-2 versatile playmaker.... We didn't have an answer for that one."

UConn guard Azzi Fudd controls the ball against Tennessee during the rivals' 2022 basketball game.
Tennessee hosts historic rival UConn in a Top 20 matchup tonight. (M. Anthony Nesmith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

How to watch Top 20 NCAA basketball on Thursday

The NCAA action continues with historic rivals No. 5 UConn taking on No. 19 Tennessee at 6:30 PM ET tonight. That's when Paige Bueckers and the Huskies will take aim at Jewel Spear and the Vols, with live coverage on ESPN.

USWNT Star Midge Purce Signs One-Year NWSL Contract Extension with Gotham

Gotham winger Midge Purce holds the ball before a set piece during a March 2024 NWSL match.
Purce earned NWSL Championship MVP with Gotham in 2023. (Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

USWNT attacker Midge Purce re-signed with Gotham FC on a one-year deal Wednesday. The move quieted speculation about the star's future with the club.

The 29-year-old announced her return in classic fashion. She simply adding a two-word quote to Gotham's press release on Wednesday: "I'm back."

Purce played a major role in Gotham's 2023 title-winning run. She earned NWSL Championship MVP honors after assisting on both goals in NJ/NY's trophy-clinching match. However, she was sidelined for much of the subsequent season — her fifth at Gotham — after a late March 2024 ACL tear.

"Midge brings a number of great qualities to our team, and her dynamism and experience are great additions to our talented attacking group," Gotham GM Yael Averbuch West said in a statement. "We are very excited to welcome her back into the mix."

Purce signing helps ease Gotham's 2025 concerns

Securing the striker eases some fears about Gotham's plans for 2025. This offseason saw a number of high-profile exits including USWNT stars Lynn Biyendolo (née Williams), Crystal Dunn, Jenna Nighswonger, among others.

"We fully understand our journey won't always follow a straight path, and we are realistic about the time, fortitude, and effort required to achieve our goals," Averbuch West recently told fans in an open letter.

"I know this offseason has been a time of uncertainty for our fans, and I want you to know we've worked tirelessly to build a team you’ll be excited to stand behind in 2025 and every season after."

Ultimately, Purce's return rounds out a still-solid Gotham squad. Of course, the roster remains punctuated by USWNT mainstays Rose Lavelle, Emily Sonnett, and Tierna Davidson.

The team is currently in Spain for preseason training. They'll play a pair of closed-door scrimmages before returning to New Jersey to kick off the 2025 NWSL season.

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