Former Upperman star point guard Akira Levy transferring to Vanderbilt basketball

Former Upperman girls basketball star Akira Levy used 16 words to tweet her next college destination.

She needed only three of them: "I'm coming home."

Levy, a two-time Tennessee Class AA Miss Basketball, announced on her Twitter account that she was committing to Vanderbilt. She had entered the transfer portal after one season at Missouri.

Levy will need to sit out next season due to NCAA transfer rules. She will have three years of eligibility beginning with the 2020-21 season.

Levy played in 28 games before her season ended due to a knee injury. She averaged 4.8 points and 2.1 assists in 15.8 minutes a game.

By transferring to Vanderbilt, Levy remains in the SEC. She had also taken an official visit to Tennessee after announcing she was leaving Missouri.

Levy, a 5-foot-8 point guard, averaged 25.3 points, 9.4 assists, 6.3 rebounds and 4.8 steals her senior year when she led Upperman to its second straight Class AA state championship.

Levy will be reunited with multiple former Tennessee Flight AAU teammates at Vanderbilt, including sophomores Brinae Alexander and Jordyn Cambridge, who played at Riverdale and Ensworth, respectively, in high school.

She will leave a program that reached the NCAA Tournament the past four seasons and reached the second round this year to join one that went 7-23 last year and hasn't been in the postseason since 2014.

Levy was named The Tennessean 2018 Girls Basketball Player of the Year after leading the Lady Bees to their second straight Class AA state championship. She signed with Western Kentucky prior to her senior year but chose to reopen her recruitment after former Lady Hilltoppers coach Michelle Clark-Heard left for Cincinnati. 

Reach Tom Kreager at 615-259-8089 or tkreager@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Kreager.