The Albany Tech Lady Titans just picked up a new player, former Newton High School Lady Rams forward Deandra Reed.

Reed signed her letter of intent and will play for the Lady Titans after receiving a full scholarship. Reed was surrounded by family and friends at her signing as they came out to Newton to show their support.

“I’m very proud of my daughter,” David Williams Sr., Reed’s father, said. “I told her just always keep God first in her life and just whatever God put forth for her to do, that’s for her to do,” Williams said.

Reed was also mulling an offer over from Tuskegee University, but chose to start her collegiate career at Albany Tech.

“I just wanted to start off somewhere small and just get bigger. I gotta start somewhere so I [chose] to start small and then I’m going to go bigger,” Reed said.

Reed added that although she’s starting out small, she wants to play at Albany Tech and see if she can get to a bigger school. She laughingly said she wants to go far away from Georgia. Reed scored high enough on the ACTs that she could opt to leave Albany Tech after one year.

Reed averaged around nine points per game last season at the three and four spots, but jacked that up to 15 ppg in the final six games of the region playoffs. She buried six three-pointers in the region championship during the third quarter to keep the game out of reach.

“They told me that I’d either be playing a three or four, but mostly a four,” Reed said on where the Lady Titans plan to use her.

According to Lady Rams’ head coach Tiffani Johnson, Reed has grown tremendously over her time at Newton.

“As a freshman I think she probably quit five times just because of the running and everything, just not being accustomed to the work, but I commended her. She got the dedication award this year just for sticking with it,” Tiffani Johnson, Lady Rams head coach, said. “[She became] a big vocal leader. She was always talking on the floor, the one who got everybody together, told them what they needed to do on and off the court. She stepped up and was a big leader for us this year.”

“Versatility is going to be her biggest asset,” Johnson said. “She can be a big guard or a small versatile post. As everybody should know, she can shoot from outside. What people may not know is, she has great footwork around the basket as a post player. Her vocalness on the floor is a major asset to any team.”