Wisconsin basketball recruiting: 2022 CG Sania Copeland flips to UW from Missouri State

Sunday was a busy day in the world of recruiting for the Wisconsin Badgers women’s basketball team. After receiving a verbal commitment from 2023 CG Leena Patibandla, Marisa Moseley’s squad wasn’t finished as they also added another member to their 2022 class in former Missouri State commit, Sania Copeland (Olathe, Kan.) out of Olathe North High School.

Virginia named former Missouri State coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton their head coach on March 21 and Copeland was released from her letter of intent due to Agugua-Hamilton moving on. Coach Mox, as she is known, earned MVC Coach of the Year honors twice in her three seasons at the helm and was highly sought after by bigger schools. Just the cost of doing business in the world of college basketball.

Anyways, back to Copeland. According to her signing day bio on the Missouri State website, she is a 5-foot-9 guard and a three-year starter at Olathe North High School. She was rated in the top-five of all Kansas 2022 point guards in March 2021, according to Prep Girls Hoops Kansas (and as of my most recent look at the Prep Girls Hoops Kansas page, she is No. 5 in the state, regardless of position). In 2020, Copeland placed in the top-eight of 75 athletes in Steph Curry’s Underrated Tour.

Here is what her Missouri State coach had to say about her:

“Sania is an athletic combo guard who can facilitate and score! She can stretch the defense with her three-ball, but she can also get in the paint and create! She has a high basketball IQ and pays attention to detail on the defensive end. She plays angles really well on and off the ball. I love her fun spirit and sweet soul. She, too, is a high-character kid who wants to be a part of something special. I’m ecstatic about her addition to our Lady Bear family!”

She was second-team all-state as a junior and first-team all-state as a senior while helping to lead her team to a 22-0 regular season this past season. Olathe fell in the 6A state semifinals to, eventual state champ, Topeka-Washburn Rural High School by one point and then lost the third place game in triple overtime to finish the year 23-2. Copeland was suffering from a calf injury at the end of the season, but still managed to lead the team in scoring and assists, with 10 points and five dimes, in their semifinal loss.

Copeland was seventh in the state (any level) in assists per game, with 5.1, as a senior while also averaging 8.7 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game.

Copeland has a smooth, left-handed stroke from deep and also gets to the rim with regularity. As her assists numbers show, she is a heady passer and she also has a really nice ball fake that she uses while driving to move defenders so she can get an open layup. She has active hands on defense and could be a player who sees the court early in her career due to her defense and passing.

The Badgers will have a host of new faces next season, as Copeland is now the fifth scholarship player in the 2022 class to go along with preferred walk-on Mary Ferrito and grad transfer point guard Avery LaBarbera from Holy Cross.