The Huskies earned a commitment from four-star combo guard Ze'Ni Patterson on Wednesday.
Sixth-year Washington Huskies women's basketball head coach Tina Langley has successfully rebuilt the program from the ground-up, and is now onto the next stage of that rebuild: being contenders.
The Huskies, who saw the graduation of the Class of 2022 (Langley's first recruiting class) last year, will enter the 2026-27 season as legitimate Big Ten contenders.
Langley has successfully rebuilt the team in part by landing stellar players on the recruiting trail and retaining the team's best players, the latter of which is a rarity in the modern era of college athletics.
The program and Langley were able to continue to add talent to the program and landed the team's first commitment of the Class of 2027 on Wednesday.
Four-star combo guard Ze'Ni Patterson announced her commitment to Washington in a post on her official Instagram account. She chose the Huskies among a final five that also included the Michigan State Spartans, TCU Horned Forgs, Harvard Crimson and Cal Golden Bears.
Patterson took her official visit with the Huskies on Sept. 5, and was evidently impressed enough to choose to opt for the Pacific Northwest.
Patterson's commitment also meant a trade in recruitment wins for the Huskies and the Horned Frogs. Kaylor Buse, a four-star point guard, chose to commit to TCU among a final list that also included Washington.
The 5-foot-9 Patterson, who attends Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, Calif., is ranked as the 86th-best overall player in the Class of '27 per ESPNW's Top 100.
Patterson averaged 11 points per game and finished her junior season in 2025-26 with 67 total steals and was named Bay Area All-Metro.
The 5-foot-9 guard could be the commitment in what could end up being a special class for the Huskies.
UW is also pursuing the top player in the class, five-star point guard Kaleena Smith. Washington hosted Smith for an official visit earlier this summer and is scheduled for an in-home visit with the 5-foot-6 floor general Sept. 24.
Regardless of whether the Huskies will be able to land Smith or not, landing Patterson sets UW up well to take over for a key player in the future.
Sellers, who is coming off a first-team All Big-Tean season, will graduate in 2027 and Garcia will have a chance to learn under her before potentially taking over as point guard.
Patterson, who can play shooting guard or run the point, will have a year to learn under All-Big Ten honorable mention shooting guard Howell, who will graduate in 2028, in a similar situation to Garcia and Sellers. Assuming neither Sellers nor Howell choose to return for a fifth season under the NCAA's new eligibility rules.
