Jeff Metcalfe

azcentral sports

Sara Hattis, a 6-4 forward, is joining Arizona State women’s basketball as a graduate transfer for her final year of eligibility.

Hattis, from Rio Rancho, N.M., played three seasons of volleyball at Texas including on a team that won the NCAA title in 2012. She overlapped playing basketball for two seasons (2012-13 and 2014-15) before playing hoops exclusively in 2015-16 as a reserve on a team that reached the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight.

ASU recruited Hattis for basketball out of high school. She is expected to team with 6-4 Quinn Dornstauder as ASU’s centers, helping the Sun Devils to get bigger.

Hattis played in 26 games as a junior for the 31-5 Longhorns but averaged just six minutes.

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"I obviously wanted to go somewhere where I could an impact and somewhere where I could get an education in the master's program to get where I want to be afterwards," said Hattis, who will work toward a master's in sports journalism. "Combining both of them, Arizona State was the best fit. It helps we knew each other from previous years. It's not a brand new relationship we had to build."

ASU was 26-7 in 2015-16, reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament before a loss to Tennessee. The Sun Devils are making an international trip to Costa Rica in August, helpful in integrating Hattis and the nation's No. 10 recruiting class (five players) with returners including Sophie Brunner, Dornstauder, Kelsey Moos, Sabrina Haines and Kianna Ibis.

"It’ll give me and the freshmen a chance to get acclimated to the system that Charli (Turner Thorne) has," Hattis said. "It gives us more time to get together chemistry-wise off the court and on the court. The biggest thing for me is getting used to playing (more)."

She said playing two sports at Texas will help her transition to a new team.

"If I was able to dedicate to one sport, I probably could be at a different level than I am now," Hattis said. "At the same time, I've been able to have experiences not many at all can say they’ve had. I've met an amazing amount of people, making relationships I’ll have for a lifetime. You learn how to work with different people. That's huge for me as a person and will help me in the future and help me move along in this process."