@SunDevilWBB adds Boise State transfer Jade Loville to 2021-22 roster

TEMPE, Ariz. – Arizona State University head women's basketball coach Charli Turner Thorne today announced that 2021 All-Mountain West standout Jade Loville will be transferring to ASU.
 
Loville, a 5-10 wing who will have two years of eligibility remaining, will be transferring to ASU from Boise State where she is coming off a season in which she led the Broncos and finished second in the Mountain West in scoring (17.1 ppg). 
 
"We actually recruited Jade out of high school and clearly she has proven at Boise State she is a big-time scorer who can play at the highest level," Turner Thorne said. "We are so grateful to get to be a part of her continued development. She will bring more experience to go with her tremendous skillset. We feel great about her passion to win championships and who she will be as a teammate."
 
Loville, who scored in double figures 19 times last season, set the school's single-game scoring record with 40 points at UNLV on Feb. 10, 2021. She scored 20 or more points nine times and was named the Mountain West Player of the Week after averaging 26.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game in a two-game sweep of San Jose State (Dec. 31 and Jan. 2). The aforementioned 40-point outing Loville had at UNLV tied for sixth most in Mountain West history and tied for third most in a conference game in league history. Loville's 29 point-performance led Boise State to a win over Colorado State in the Mountain West quarterfinal.
 
"The culture that Coach Charli has instilled into ASU's basketball program reflects her grit and desire to succeed in all walks of life," Loville said. "After talking to the coaching staff and learning more about the legacy that is still in the making, I was convinced that this program would allow me to elevate my game and have great relationships with the people around me. Plus, my dad lives about 30 minutes away. It's a blessing to be coming to play in the state that I was born."
 
Loville appeared in all 33 games as a sophomore in 2019-20 and finished the season fifth on the team and was the team's top performer off the bench in scoring (8.0 ppg). She connected on 46 percent of her shots and had a breakout performance at the Mountain West Tournament, averaging 14.0 points while shooting 50.0 percent, and closing with a 20-point performance in the title-game win over Fresno State. Her sophomore campaign included 13 double-figure scoring efforts, including three 20-point performances.
 
Voted the Preseason Mountain West Freshman of the Year, Loville appeared in 31 games in 2018-19 and scored a season-high 18 points at Washington State.
 
A 2018 graduate of Skyline High School in Sammamish, Wash., and originally an Arizona native, Loville was named to the All-USA TODAY Washington Girls Team in 2017-18, after averaging 37.1 points and 8.8 rebounds per game and shooting 45 percent from the field. She also earned a spot on the All-KingCo 4A First Team. Overall, Loville was a four-time All-KingCo 4A selection, being twice named to the Second Team (as a freshman and sophomore), before earning her first-team selections following her junior and senior seasons. 
 
"Jade is the most dynamic player I have ever seen," added Loville's high school coach Ricci Greenwood. "She is able to beat you in so many ways. Her mental approach and work ethic align with the great ones. She has God-given talent but it has been forged through hard work and dedication. ASU has just found its next diamond in the rough."
 
Loville is the daughter of eight-year NFL veteran running back Derek Loville, who played for the Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers and Denver Broncos. Loville was a member of three Super Bowl champion teams (1994 San Francisco 49ers and 1997-98 Denver Broncos).
 
Loville will be one of four new players on ASU's 2021-22 roster, joining incoming freshmen Meg Newman and Jade Melbourne and San Jose State graduate transfer Ayzhiana Basallo.
 
Despite the challenges of COVID-19 and a young roster in which 95 out of 120 possible starts were made by freshmen (62) or upperclassmen who were first-year starters (33), the Sun Devils still earned their seventh consecutive postseason berth (20th in 21 seasons) in 2020-21. They captured four wins over NCAA Tournament teams – including one Final Four team – while losing three other contests to eventual NCAA Tournament teams by an average of just 5.0 points with eventual national champion Stanford included in that group.