Josie Hill’s final collegiate basketball season will be back in familiar territory. 

Hill, a 2022 Rapid City Central High School graduate, will play her final college basketball season at the Division I University of South Dakota. Hill played her first three seasons at Division I Chicago State University, where she started 72 career games. 

Hill committed to the Coyotes on April 10 after recently visiting the campus in Vermillion, which is 5 1/2 hours from Rapid City. The closer distance, as opposed to the 14-hour trip to Chicago, heavily played into her decision to pick USD. 

“Just being able to bring my talents home, and the coaching staff,” Hill said about picking USD. “A great facility and just the whole campus. It felt welcoming and like a family community, and just being able to represent South Dakota for my last year.”

Hill entered the transfer portal on March 25, and within minutes her phone was buzzing with text messages from college programs. She received interest from roughly 30-35 college basketball programs. 

“It was very overwhelming,” Hill said. “I think my first text was within like three minutes of me entering and then it just built on up from there.”

She had other visits lined up this month, but was quickly sold on her first visit. 

“USD was my first visit and I just knew,” Hill said. “So I didn’t want to waste the opportunity.”

A 6-foot-1 center, Hill averaged 12.4 points (second on the team) and a team-high 6.4 rebounds per game this season. She blocked a team-high 38 shots this season. She was an all-Northeast Conference defensive team selection this past season.  

She reached double figure rebounds on five occasions this season and nabbed a season-high 14 rebounds against LeMoyne. In 2023-24, Hill led the nation in blocked shots for four weeks and finished the season ranked No. 7 in all of Division I for blocked shots.

She hopes to bring the same production to the ‘Yotes. 

“I feel like I am going to bring an immediate impact, just with my scoring ability and my defensive ability as well,” Hill said. 

Hill, a member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate tribe, also hopes to bring more fans to her games this season. 

“I am so excited to just be able to bring a larger fanbase to USD, with that being a lot of natives, and for my family to be able to come more easily,” Hill said.