Saint Louis women’s basketball head coach Rebecca Tillett has announced the signing of transfer Tyonna Bailey for the 2026-27 season.
Bailey joins the Billikens from Charleston Southern, where she earned first-team All-Big South honors following a standout campaign.
“Tyonna Bailey is exactly the woman we needed to add to our dynamic group of guards,” Tillett said. “She is a prolific scorer who does it in a variety of ways while caring deeply about the team game. She is a strong rebounder which adds advantages on both sides of the ball. During the recruiting process, Tyonna sent our staff videos of her training at night with a teammate. It demonstrated that she spends the necessary extra time in the gym that we need to reestablish our championship habits. Her scoring ability will get her teammates open and prevent game plans that focus solely on Alyssa. Tyonna is a high-quality teammate, similar to the players she is joining, who works to bring out the best in those around her.”
A Newark, New Jersey, native, Bailey started 26 of 28 games and averaged 31.1 minutes per contest. She led the team with 17.3 points per game — the eighth-highest single-season average in program history — while shooting 40.3 percent from the field. Bailey also contributed 7.0 rebounds per game, along with 43 assists and 34 steals.
In conference play, Bailey elevated her performance, leading the Big South with 20.1 points per game. She ranked third in rebounding at 8.5 boards per game, the top mark among guards, and led the conference in defensive rebounds at 7 per game. Bailey was the only player in the league to rank in the top three in both scoring and rebounding during conference action.
She knocked down 48 3-pointers, shot 75.4% from the free-throw line and recorded 10 20-point performances, including two 30-point outings. One of her top performances came against nationally ranked competition, when she scored 31 points against No. 18 North Carolina.
Prior to her collegiate career, Bailey was a highly regarded recruit out of Immaculate Conception Montclair High School. Ranked as the No. 4 player in New Jersey, she was a two-time conference player of the year and led her team to the 2023 state championship game.
Bailey earned second-team New Jersey All-State honors in 2022-23 and third-team recognition in 2021-22. She was a four-time all-conference selection, a McDonald’s All-American nominee and a participant in the Who’s NXT? All-American Game. As a senior, she averaged 20.6 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.
She helped lead her high school teams to two conference championships, two county titles and two state semifinal appearances.
