Women’s Basketball: Five-Star Damiya Hagemann Commits to MSU!

The high profile recruiting news this summer coming out of the Berkowitz Basketball Complex is not limited to just the south office. In addition to big commits to MSU’s women’s basketball program in early August for the 2021 class, the Spartans got a huge in-state commit late Friday afternoon to kick off the holiday weekend!

Detroit Edison’s Damiya Hagemann, a five-star prospect, announced on Twitter she is verbally committed to the Spartans. The 5-foot-7-inch tall point guard is rated the No. 19 player in the country by ESPN’s HoopGurlz and the No. 5 point guard prospect nationally. She is the state’s top prospect in the 2021 class, and she averaged 12.1 points and 7.3 assists during a 23-0 season last winter for the Pioneers.

Hagemann has been an Associated Press Division 2 first team all-state selection the past two seasons. She also earned Division 3 second team all-state honors from the AP as a freshman. While COVID-19 canceled the state tournament last season, Hagemann was already a varsity player on a pair of state title winning teams; and the Pioneers racked up a 74-2 record throughout her varsity career to date.

Among the many programs from which Hagemann received offers (Michigan, Ohio State, and DePaul all made offers before she was in high school), she narrowed her top choices to seven. Besides Michigan State, she considered Clemson, Florida State, Kentucky, Louisville, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State as her top picks. Asked by 247Sports in early August about her top seven schools, she had the following to say about Michigan State:

“Michigan State’s Coach Suzy (Merchant) was one of my first offers. Our bond was really there. I go there a couple of times a year. They are like a second home to me. For a while, we didn’t talk that much, then our relationship got back on track. And I really love Suzy to death. And I really think they need a point guard to get to the Sweet 16, Final Four.”

Watching her highlight film, many of you should be reminded of Cassius Winston by Hagemann’s ability to drive to the basket, pull up and create her own shot, and read the floor to make a difficult pass and set-up the easy assist for her teammate. Head coach Suzy Merchant got a fantastic point guard recruit with Damiya Hagemann’s commitment and 2021 cannot get here soon enough for both the men’s and women’s teams!