Arlington standout headed to Wake Forest

From Commercial Appeal

Arlington’s Raegyn Branch is as serious about her work off the basketball court as she is on. And she’ll be getting the best of both worlds now that she’s made her college choice.


Branch — a 6-2 post player who helped lead the Tigers to the AAA state tournament for the first time in school history in March — announced Tuesday that she has verbally committed to play at Wake Forest. She chose the Demon Deacons after receiving interest from Minnesota, Louisiana Tech, UNC-Charlotte and Seton Hall.

“They have a (good) medical school and I want to go into medicine,” said Branch, who hopes to be an orthopedic surgeon. “And it’s the ACC; there’s good competition, playing against a lot of the top schools.”

Wake Forest — which finished 13-20 this past year in a league that produced eight NCAA Tournament teams — will be getting a player with a nice game around the basket along with the ability to step out on the wing and the passing skills to find open teammates on the perimeter.

And with her decision out of the way, Branch will now be able to focus on helping the Tigers build on the successes of least season, which ended with a loss to Morristown West in the state quarterfinals that left them with a 26-10 record.

“It (the recruiting process) was fun,” Branch said. “At times, it was stressful to think about where I was going to go but I enjoyed it.”