Considered one of the top girls basketball guards in the state, Ariyana Cradle will play her senior season at SPIRE Academy.
The 5-foot-8 Cradle, who led Westerville South to a regional runner-up finish last winter, has received 19 Division I college offers. She believes the move to SPIRE, a boarding school in Geneva in northeast Ohio, will help bolster her career.
“It took a while, but I’m ready for it,” said Cradle, who will move to the school in August. “It’s the closest (such school) to home and it’s a great environment. I love the coach (Mike Dooley). We’re going to be really good. We play a national schedule, so I’m ready for the competition. I’m trying to better myself.”
On3 ranks Cradle, a four-star recruit, as the No. 1 prospect in Ohio and No. 63 nationally in the class of 2026.
Cradle averaged 18.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.0 steals and 2.6 assists as a junior and was Division II district Player of the Year and second-team all-state. She also shared OCC-Capital Player of the Year honors with Big Walnut’s Sydney Mobley, was an Ohio Ms. Basketball finalist and was named to The Dispatch’s All-Metro team.
She said she met with South coach Jermaine Guice to discuss her decision and thanked him and the program for contributing to her career.
“I’ve known coach Guice since I was in third or fourth grade,” she said. “I used to play for him on AAU teams. We all had a pretty cool bond. We all got along. I’ll miss them as well. It was a tough conversation, but he understood. That made me feel a little bit better about myself.”
Originally from Columbus, Cradle and her family moved to Westerville before her freshman year. She joined varsity as a freshman but suffered a left ACL injury during the postseason, leading to her missing the first nine games of her sophomore season.
“We’ve had a lot of work to do,” said Aaliyah Barnes, Cradle’s trainer at Up Next Training in Gahanna. “I used to compete at SPIRE all the time, so it’s really exciting to watch her go there and compete for them.”
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High school sports reporter Frank DiRenna can be reached at fdirenna@dispatch.com and at @DispatchFrank on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Top Ohio girls basketball recruit Ariyana Cradle leaving Westerville South for SPIRE
Reporting by Frank DiRenna, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
