Without yet setting one foot on the court for her senior season, Salem's Ayana Mitchell, has made her decision on where she'll attend college with a verbal commitment to play basketball at SEC powerhouse LSU.

Mitchell is currently ranked as a top-50 player in the nation by a vast amount of sports news websites, including ESPN. Entering her senior season, Mitchell has gradually improved every year, which is something Salem girls basketball head coach Rochone Dilligard praises her for.

Mitchell isn't just one of the top girls basketball players in the country, she's also a good student. Mitchell currently boasts a 3.6 GPA.

"She's just a great kid. She's a hard worker, she's one of the hardest workers on getting her game better. She really likes the competition and [she likes] to improve," Dilligard said.

Mitchell is 6-1, really athletic with very long arms according to Dilligard. Dilligard says that she runs the floor extremely well, and that she's a great offensive rebounder.

"She's going to do very well in the SEC, because that's the kind of body types that she'll be playing every night," Dilligard said.

"I think it'll (her game) transition very well," Dilligard said. "The SEC is really known for their athleticism up and down the floor, as well as just rebounding every night. That's where a lot of teams get their scoring. Those are two areas in which she already excels and she's only going to continue to get better."

Mitchell plays with her back to the basket. Dilligard says that Mitchell's greatest strength is that she does a little bit of everything.

"She's got a lot of strengths," Dilligard said. "Because of her versatility, that's where she'll excel. She's able to play defense on a guard or she's able to face-up and play defense on a post-player. She can also shoot the three, she can put the ball on the floor. She'll create some matchup problems in that conference just by all the versatility that she has."
Mitchell, who can play at guard or forward, averaged 18.1 points per game, 12.4 rebounds, 3.7 steals and one block during her junior season.