Foster's Chattanooga Mocs add two signees to Alford

photo UTC forward Queen Alford lays the ball up during a Lady Mocs' basketball practice.

Even with the fall signing period opening Wednesday, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball program already had one key piece of its 2015 class on campus and working with the team.

Junior guard Queen Alford transferred to UTC during the summer from Jacksonville University and is sitting out this season per NCAA transfer rules. Coach Jim Foster's Mocs added two high school players who signed their letters of intent Wednesday.

Guards Molly Melton of the Webb School in Knoxville and Nakeia Burks of Huntsville (Ala.) High School sent in their paperwork to complete the signing class for this season.

"We've already had our biggest signing, and that's Queen," Foster said of next season's additions. "She's already here, and we are adding a couple of guards that I think have big upside.

"Molly's tough and knows how to run a team, and Nakeia has a good skill set and can be a really good college player."

Melton is a 5-foot-4 point guard who led her team to a TSSAA Division II state championship in her freshman year, earning MVP honors in the title game.

Melton currently plays for former Tennessee player Shelley Collier, who praised Melton's perseverance after two knee surgeries to repair ACL tears. She was a Tennessee Sports Writers Association all-state player and the Division II East/Middle Region MVP.

"I love that it's a winning program, and I love the team dynamics," said Melton, who said she had been recruited by other Southern Conference schools. "They all get along very well. Getting to play for Coach Foster, who's a Hall of Fame coach, was a huge factor as well."

Burks also has played varsity basketball since her freshman year, and at 5-10 she is a bigger guard. She is a two-time Huntsville all-city second-team selection, runs the 100- and 200-meter sprints for the track team and has a 3.5 grade point average.

Foster said that these three new players can help the Mocs remain atop the SoCon but that he and his staff remain on the lookout for other pieces to help the team succeed.

"We're still missing that [former UTC player] Taylor Hall type of player, but how often do you really get that?" he said. "That type of skill set is kind of interesting and makes you more flexible, but we may have that in [current UTC freshman] Keiana [Gilbert] as she progresses.

"You're always looking for good players, and we'll continue to do that."

Contact Jim Tanner at jtanner@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6478. Follow him at twitter.com/JFTanner.

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