Southern Utah center Lizzy Williamson had a good handle on what she wanted in her third college.
The 6-foot-5 Williamson officially visited both West Virginia and NC State, and picked the Wolfpack on Monday, after being in Raleigh this past weekend. Assistant coach Ashley Williams was the point person on her recruitment and she joins Sacramento State transfer Katie Peneueta, a 6-2 three-point specialist.
Williamson will have two years of eligibility left and joins former Florida State transfer River Baldwin in the post for coach Wes Moore.
“I knew a little about the ACC and I had actually visited some schools when I was in the ninth grade,” said Williamson, 21. “I remember seeing North Carolina and Duke, and all those programs were amazing, and NC State has an amazing history and huge support in Raleigh.
“I know how he’s [Moore] been able to develop posts in the past. He plays a post-oriented game and he’s had success with the players.”
The desire to play at the highest level helped drive her to transfer from Southern Utah, which went 23-10 overall and 16-2 in the WAC.
“It was a super tough decision to make,” Williamson said. “I had a great year and so did the team. I love my teammates there. Hopefully, that risk pays off.
“I am just super long and I’m able to block shots and be a presence inside. I love to rebound and block shots. On the offensive end, that is my biggest area I need to improve.”
Williamson was able to hang out this past weekend with Saniya Rivers, who transferred to NC State a year ago from South Carolina. Some of the players were out of town or dealing with finals.
“It was super fun and I got to see Raleigh,” Williamson said. “Raleigh reminds me a lot to Adelaide, Australia. It’s not too big and not too small. She also really liked the food at First Watch for breakfast and Cucciolo Terrazzo for dinner.
The Adelaide native — which is near the Indian Ocean in Southern Australia — had started her college career at Utah State, where she redshirted for a semester during the 2019-20 season. She had injured her wrist her senior year of high school, so was very much under the radar at the time. Her father reached out to 10 colleges, and Utah State was one of them.
Interim coach Ben Finkbeiner was let go after a 8-23 season, and Williamson went about five hours south to Southern Utah, where she eventually blossomed.
The defensive-minded post player averaged 9.0 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.9 blocks in 68 career games for Southern Utah. She averaged 9.6 points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game this last season, earning WAC defensive player of the year honors. She’s had to improve at chasing smaller players in a league like the WAC.
“On defense, I’ve improved at moving my feet a lot better,” Williamson said. “Coming in on balls and everything, that can be hard to guard.”
Williamson said she’ll need to take 17 credits this summer to graduate in general studies with a minor in special education, in order to avoid needing a waiver to play at NC State. Due to the summer school crush, she won’t graduate in elementary studies, but would like to pursue something similar for graduate school.
Williamson was always the tallest girl growing up and her family loves basketball, and her mother also has a track background.
“My whole family has played a bit, and my dad has played and my sister [Rosie Williamson] plays in NBL1 right now.”
Williamson had five points, seven rebounds and one block in 34 minutes in the 82-56 loss vs. Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament. She also had 12 points and nine rebounds against Oregon, eight points and six boards against Colorado and six points and 10 rebounds against Utah.
“My shot consistency has gone up from the mid-range and I need to work on stretching that out a little bit,” Williamson said. “I’d like to get into the post and work more on my back to the basket stuff. I have improved in my pick and roll game.”
She knows that getting stronger and adjusting to the speed of the game will be the big changes in playing in the ACC.
“Those are two big things, and I have a long ways to go, but I’m excited,” Williamson said. “I know we’ll have a super tough preseason and I’ll need to get a lot stronger and faster, even though I’ve improved on that in college.”
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