Girls basketball: Sterling’s Madison Austin gets Division I offer from Dayton

STERLING – Sterling junior Madison Austin got some exciting news over Easter weekend.

On March 30, she received her first offer to play college basketball from Division I Dayton.

At an AAU practice last Saturday, Austin was handed a phone by her head coach. On the other end was Flyers women’s basketball coach Tamika Williams-Jeter, offering her a scholarship on the spot.

Austin said she was aware that Dayton was doing its homework on her, but wasn’t expecting the offer.

“My AAU coach said they had reached out about my game film and wanted information on me. My contact with college coaches has been picking up since basketball season ended. I was surprised and excited to receive the offer. It is a great feeling to have a coach believe in you and recognize all the work you have been putting in.”

Austin said Williams-Jeter was intrigued by her rapid progression as a relative newcomer to the sport.

“She was impressed with how short a time I have been playing basketball – it will be three years in June – and believes my best basketball is ahead of me,” Austin said.

Austin has been drawing interest from other D1 programs, as well.

The 6-foot-3-inch forward averaged 12 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game while shooting 51.7% from the field for the Golden Warriors during the 2023-24 season. Austin was an Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Class 3A special mention All-State pick, a second-team All-Western Big 6 pick and a Sauk Valley Media first-team all-area pick this past season.

She’s also a two-time IHSA Girls State Swimming qualifier (18th place in 100-yard freestyle in 2022 and 24th in 2023), and is the school record-holder in the 100-yard freestyle (52.21 seconds) and the 200-yard freestyle (1:55.98).

Madison’s older brother Lucas, a Sterling senior, signed to play Division I football at West Virginia in December.