Starting her basketball career on a boys’ team at eight-years old, Shae Littleford committed to play at the University of Tennessee at Martin at just 16 years old.

Littleford is a redshirt senior at UCA for her first year as a Sugar Bear.

She is a graduate student getting her master’s in business administration after graduating from UT-Martin with a degree in accounting.

When deciding on a college, Littleford visited many schools to make sure she liked the community and to meet with the girls on the teams.

“Once I visited UT-Martin, I got that ‘welcoming home’ feeling,” Littleford said. “So I went with my gut and spent four years there.”

Littleford had to have knee surgery after the last season, so when she decided to take her redshirt year somewhere else and started talking to coaches, the surgery was kind of a dealbreaker for some.

“When I talked to Coach Kemper, he was super excited and you could tell that he loved what he was doing and loved the culture he was building here,” Littleford said. “I had talked to him about my knee and he never made it seem like it was going to be an issue.”

When Littleford came to meet the girls and the coaching staff, she said everything was wonderful.

“You could tell that they enjoyed being a part of the program,” Littleford said.

As far as the season goes, Littleford said they’ve had a really great start and have a lot of fun.

Littleford said she is so grateful to be a Sugar Bear.

“It’s more than basketball here, it’s like family,” she said.

The biggest lesson she said she has learned throughout life and her basketball journey is how important relationships are.

“Basketball is going to end but the people I’ve met along the way, I’m gonna have those friendships and those mentors forever,” Littleford said.

Littleford said she looks up to her mom and dad.

“My mom is literally the heart of our family. I aspire to be her,” Littleford said. 

“My dad is an incredible leader and so I base a lot of my leadership skills off of him and how I can be the best vocal person for our team,” she continued.

Littleford’s goal this year is to win a championship.

“I’ve never won a championship in college so I think keeping that the main thing is important,” she said.

Littleford said her career highlights include breaking the all-time assist record at her high school and the opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament at Iowa when Caitlyn Clark was there.

Littleford reached 1,000 points in her college career on Nov. 19 in the game against Arkansas State.

“It’s not something I really looked at or even tried to get,” she said. “It was more like something that just came along with the work.”

Littleford’s advice to someone who wants to play basketball is “at the end of the day, it’s a game; keep it fun and lighthearted.”