CHICAGO - Ahead of her fourth season at the helm, UIC women's basketball head coach Tasha Pointer announced the addition of six players to the 2021-22 roster. Joining the Flames next season to begin their collegiate careers will be Tamara Fournillier-Onadeko, Ky Dempsey-Toney, Bailey Lutes, Caro Fernández and Leah Yarbrough, while graduate transfer Justice Gee will join UIC after four years at East Carolina.

Tamara Fournillier-Onadeko will make her way to Chicago all the way from Medway, Kent, England, where she attended Barking Abby Academy. Fournillier-Onadeko was named Barking Abbey's Overall Sports person of the year and was named the Best Actress of the year at the academy's 'Choscars' Award ceremonies.

With her club team Sevenoaks Suns, Fournillier-Onadeko won a National Playoff Championship in 2017, 2018 and 2019, with Fournillier-Onadeko being named the National Playoff finals MVP in the 2019 Championships.

Fournillier-Onadeko also won a National Cup Championship and a WBBL national playoff Championship in 2019 with Sevenoaks Suns and she was named 2019 National Cup finals MVP. The Kent, England native also took home All-Defensive Team of the year honors in 2020.

Dempsey-Toney will be the fourth Franklin High School alumna on the Flames' roster, joining her former teammates Tiana Jackson, Keona Schenck and Kennady Schenck, who are all former Warriors. Dempsey-Toney helped her team to an undefeated 34-0 record her sophomore season, as the Warriors were named the undefeated TOC Champions, Skyland Conference Champions and Somerset County Champions in 2018-19.

Franklin appeared in the 2018-19 NJSIAA Tournament Championships with Dempsey-Toney on the roster, and in her junior year (2019-20), the Warriors were crowned Group 4 Champions at the NJSIAA Sectional Tournament.

Individually, Dempsey-Toney was named the Group 4 MVP of the 2020 NJSIAA sectional tournament and was also named All-Division and All-Area. The Somerset, NJ native was named the 2021 Winter Athlete of the Year and was also selected All Skyland Conference Select First Team in 2021. Dempsey-Toney also excels in the classroom, earning Honor Roll status at Franklin High School.

Bailey Lutes is native of our neighbors to the north, spending her first two years of high school at Sun Prairie High School in Sun Prairie, Wis. before finishing out her high school career at Cuba City High School in Cuba City, Wis. Lutes lettered all four years in basketball and also lettered three years in cross country.

During her time at Sun Prairie, Lutes helped her basketball team to a Conference and Regional Championship during her freshman season, while also winning Conference, Sectional and State Championships with her cross-country team. During her sophomore year at Sun Prairie, Lutes won another Regional Championship in basketball while also taking home Conference, Sectional and State Champion-Runner up titles in cross country.

Competing at Cuba City her junior year, Lutes helped the Cubans become Co-Conference Champions and was named First-Team All-Conference in the SWAL Conference. In her senior season, Lutes repeated on the All-Conference First Team, was named an All-Star game selection and was also named the conference's Player of the Year.  Lutes additionally earned a spot on the Telegraph Herold All-Area Team and was Honorable Mention All-State during her senior season.

Lutes set the single-season free throw attempts and makes record at Cuba City, and she also led her squad in points per game, rebounds per game, steals per game, assists per game and averaged the fewest turnovers per game.

Fernández, a Montevideo, Uruguay native, will make her way to UIC after lettering all four years in basketball at Winston Salem Christian in North Carolina. During her time competing in Uruguay, Fernández helped the Uruguayan National Team to a South American Championship at the 2017 Championships in Columbia, the 2018 Championships in Chile and the 2019 Championships in Columbia. Fernandez was crowned MVP all three years at the Championships.

Gee will be joining the Flames as a graduate transfer after four years at East Carolina. Prior to missing the 2019-20 season due to injury, Gee was one of three players to appear in all 31 games for the Pirates during the 2018-19 campaign, and she finished second on the team with 73 assists. Gee averaged 3.7 points per game and 2.6 rebounds per game at ECU during 2018-19 and had at least one assist in 29 of East Carolina's 31 games.

During her sophomore season at ECU, Gee appeared in 31 games and made seven starts, averaging 2.0 points per game, 1.8 rebounds per game and 1.1 assists per game. As a freshman, Gee averaged 1.8 points per game, pulled down an average of 1.5 rebounds per game and handed out 1.3 assists per game.

During her high school career, Gee was a two-time Miss Hoop Zone winner and was selected by the South Carolina Basketball Coaches Association as the 2016 Class A Girls Player-of-the-Year. The Timmonsville SC, native was also a three-time All-Star, a member of the All-Region team and was named All-State. Gee helped her team to a 2016 State Runner-up title and a 2012 State Championship and was a three-sport athlete, also lettering in track and softball at Timmonsville High School.

Yarbrough is an Indianapolis, Ind. native, who lettered in basketball all four years at Brownsburg High School. Yarbrough helped the Bulldogs to three-straight 20+ win seasons her freshman, sophomore and junior year before taking home second at the State Championships this year in her senior season. Yarbrough was also a strong student at Brownsburg, graduating with academic honors.