CHICAGO—Women's basketball head coach Ashleen Bracey announced today Dais'Ja Trotter will be transferring to UIC ahead of the 2023-2024 season. The guard, who has one season of eligibility remaining, will be joining the Flames after stops at Cincinnati and Rend Lake College.
Trotter is the fifth student-athlete to transfer to the UIC women's basketball program this offseason, along with Sandra Frau-Garcia, Makiyah Williams, Krystyna Ellew and Keimari Rimmer.
"We are very excited to welcome Dais'Ja Trotter into our Women's Basketball Family," said women's basketball head coach Ashleen Bracey."Dais'Ja is a strong guard with great size. She is a dynamic scorer, fierce competitor, and elite rebounder. Dais'Ja is a natural born leader with a great passion for the game.Her work ethic and leadership qualities will help her to make an immediate impact on our program.She is a high-character student-athlete committed to the pursuit of excellence both on and off the court."
This past season with the Bearcats, Trotter played in 23 games. She led all scorers in Cincinnati's victory over Ohio University on Dec. 12 with 13 points, including going 3-for-5 from beyond the arc. She also scored 10 points against Memphis on Feb. 22.
Trotter's collegiate career started at Rend Lake College, where she played three seasons for the Warriors. She played 74 games for Rend Lake, starting 65. She was named NJCAA Region XXIV Player of the Year and received Great Rivers Athletic Conference honors during the 2021-2022 season. She also broke a four-decade long record when she became the program's leading scorer with 1,474 points.
Trotter led all scorers in the NJCAA with 24.4 points per game during her last season at Rend Lake. She also finished the season averaging 10.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game.
Over her three seasons at Rend Lake, Trotter was named a Second-Team NJCAA All-American, NCJAA All American Honorable Mention and was also named All-Region and All-Conference. She hit a career-high 44 points on three separate occasions: against Kaskaskia College (Feb. 22, 2020), Shawnee Community College (Dec. 4, 2021) and Olney Central College (Jan. 24, 2022).
Prior to her time at Rend Lake, Trotter lettered at Seneca High School in Kentucky. She became a 1,000-point scorer her senior season, which was highlighted by a 60-point, 21-rebound performance against Portland Christian. Trotter was named All-Conference and All-Region in her junior season.
