Ex-VCU guard Brewer now at Mt. St. Mary's

Former VCU guard Jackie Brewer, the first Rams freshman to earn CAA All-Rookie honors in five years, has transferred to Mount. St. Mary's. Brewer will have three years of eligibility at the Mount after sitting out the 2011-12 campaign.

"Jackie is a player we recruited out of high school and we are happy that she has decided to join our basketball family now," Mount St. Mary's coach Bryan Whitten said. "Plain and simple, Jackie can score. She shoots the three and has a good pull-up. Defenses have to pay attention to where she is and that will provide her teammates some opportunities. Even though she cannot play this season, she can practice with us and playing against her daily will help our team improve."

A Winchester native, Brewer displayed star-stuff right out of the box for the Rams last season, scoring 11 points in her college debut and picking up conference co-rookie of the week honors after a 14-point effort against Virginia Tech. But Brewer's minutes/productivity may have been the one casualty of the otherwise spectacular re-emergence of All-CAA teammate Andrea Barbour. Brewer played in 29 minutes in the game before Barbour, a transfer, established her eligibility, and 20 in Barbour's Rams debut on Dec. 23 at Radford. Brewer did not play more than 14 minutes in any game the rest of the season and logged single-digit minutes in 12 of her last 14 games.

Brewer finished the season averaging 4.2 points and was third on the team with 19 3-pointers. She was the first VCU freshman to make the all-rookie team since Quanitra Hollingsworth in 2006.

Ex-Kentucky Miss Basketball transfers to UVa.

Sarah Beth Barnette, a 6-2 forward who in some respects would seem to be the last person to transfer from Kentucky, is doing just that and is heading for Virginia.

For Barnette, leaving Kentucky is essentially leaving home. The 2010 Kentucky Miss Basketball, was born in Lexington, Kent., the city in which the university. Her parents both went to Kentucky. And she describes herself as a lifelong Wildcats fan who was so sure she wanted to play for UK she verbally committed to the school as a high school sophomore.

But after a freshman season in which Barnette played sparingly, often out of position - in the post as opposed to on the perimeter - and while battling a shoulder injury, well, Charlottesville, here she comes.

"Virginia was everything I've been looking for," Barnette told Kentucky.com. "It's a beautiful school, a beautiful campus. ... I love the coaching staff there, especially Coach (Joanne) Boyle."

So what happened at Kentucky? That Barnette averaged just 1.7 points and 1.6 rebounds per game as a Wildcats freshman may be part of it. But her high school coach at Lexington Christian Academy, Jason Seamands, suggested that it may have been simply a case of struggling to adjust to a big state university after attending a small, Christian private school.

We remember Barnette burying a pair of first-half three-pointers for the Wildcats during their 66-62 overtime victory over Hampton during the NCAA tournament. We were rooting against Barnette that time, but we look forward to watching her knock 'em down for the Cavaliers in the years to come.

Barnette must sit out the 2011-12 season but will have three years of eligibility beginning with the 2012-13 campaign.