From playing high school ball in nearby Neelyville to a couple of national tournament runs with Three Rivers, Autumn Dodd will be taking the next step of her basketball career to the NCAA Division I level as she committed to Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.

"The team was really cool when I met them," Dodd said. "I didn't have to force any connections, which was huge for me since I like the family atmosphere."

Dodd was a big part of the Raiders' success as she averaged 9.5 points per game in her three years in the black and gold, taking advantage of an extra COVID season.

She is fourth in program history in career steals with 200, recording 106 this past season. Her teammate, Myia Yelder holds the top spot in the category for her career with 217.

During this past season, Dodd was second on the team in scoring average with 11.6 points per game and led the team in steals per game at 3.7 in 29 games. She scored at least 20 points in a game twice, including a career-high 27 points at Williams Baptist JV in the season opener.

Prior to college, Dodd averaged 19.5 points per game for Neelyville her junior year in 2017-18 as she was named MBCA Class 2 Player of the Year.

Dodd will be joining an Old Dominion squad that went 24-10 last season, losing in the second round of the Women's NIT. The Monarchs play in Conference USA.

"I went down there to visit and really liked the program that had a winning record last year," Dodd said. "Their coach (DeNisha Milton-Jones) played in the WNBA, so she knows what she's doing."

Milton-Jones played professionally in the WNBA and overseas for 17 seasons and was a two-time WNBA champion with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2001 and 2002. She's also a two-time Olympic gold medalist with the United States women's basketball team in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

In the classroom, Dodd will be studying Information Technology.

"Old Dominion is a really good school academically," Dodd said. "I applied for the database administration program."

Robert Augsdorfer - Daily American Republic