Graduate student guard Aliah McWhorter has played a huge role in her second season as a Bobcat, as she has been a big leader in her team's 2025-26 campaign and its push for the Mid-American Conference tournament. She is currently third on her team in scoring this season, second in field goal percentage and fourth in blocks.
Many years before McWhorter was in her final year of college, she was just a kid at Sycamore High School in Cincinnati, who looked up to Baylor/WNBA star Brittany Griner and her older sister.
McWhorter played both her junior and senior years at Sycamore on varsity, where she became a high school legend and collected many accolades. She was a two-time First-team All-Greater Miami Conference, Ohio All-State selection, Second Team All-Southwest Ohio District and on top of that, she broke her school's record for most career blocks.
These impressive awards led her to earn six offers from different colleges. One of the schools that stood out to McWhorter during her visit was Wake Forest University.
“I went on my visit to Wake (Forest) and loved the campus,” McWhorter said. “They had what I was looking for, studying-wise, and it was a competitive program.”
She would verbally commit to being a Demon Deacon early in her junior year of high school.
Her role at Wake Forest was very limited her freshman year; she only saw the court in 5 games with minimal minutes played.
As she was getting ready for her sophomore season at Wake Forest, she tore her ACL and meniscus in practice. The injury went undetected for weeks and was diagnosed as just a knee sprain.
This injury would end her sophomore season before it even started and knock out the majority of her junior season as well.
“It was a mentally grueling process,” McWhorter said about her recovery. “It really took just taking it day by day and appreciating the small wins throughout the long process.”
McWhorter went into her senior year at Wake Forest with just one healthy season under her belt. McWhorter's role that year, while still being very limited, had grown a little. She had minutes in 13 of their games, including a start.
Aliah ended her fourth year at Wake Forest with little to show for it because of her injury. She only used two years of eligibility in her four years at Wake Forest University. This meant she had two more years of college eligibility, and with those two years of eligibility left, and academics in mind, McWhorter decided to transfer.
“I think it boiled down to what I wanted academically, as I was looking into vet school,” McWhorter said. “I also wanted a fresh start in a new environment. Basketball is obviously huge on relationships with your teammates and coaches, and unfortunately, my coaches and I at Wake Forest weren’t really clicking.”
In the middle of spring 2024, Aliah McWhorter decided to transfer to Ohio to play under head coach Bob Bolden. When McWhorter was looking for a college to transfer to, the stars aligned for Ohio.
“It was close to home, and it had classes I needed,” McWhorter said. “Ohio was also one of the schools that recruited me out of high school, so I was already familiar with the coaches.”
McWhorter immediately became an important role on her new team as an experienced player. She was fourth on her team in scoring with 175 points that season, fifth in rebounds, third in blocks, second in assists and tied for fourth in steals.
Despite McWhorter’s huge breakout season, Ohio would struggle with an overall record of 6-23 and a 4-14 conference record. Ohio finished second-to-last in the MAC.
Now with one more year of eligibility, McWhorter had a very difficult decision to make, as she could stick around for her final season or chase another opportunity with a different program.
McWhorter decided to stay at Ohio and try to help her fellow Bobcats turn their team around in her final year of eligibility, staying loyal to Ohio.
“I think there’s a lot of value in just appreciating and having loyalty to your program,” McWhorter said. “I think it’s so easy to chase NIL money nowadays. I liked my relationship with my coaches, and they were very open and helpful in getting my confidence back. The first season didn’t go well, but it doesn’t mean that’s going to be our identity.”
Fast forward a year, and the Bobcats have almost tripled their wins from last season and have clinched a MAC Tournament berth with only a few more regular-season games.
