What Clemson women's basketball coach Amanda Butler said about signing 5-star Imari Berry

Clemson women's basketball added the highest-rated recruit in program history on the first day of the early signing period Wednesday: Imari Berry.

Berry, a 5-foot-10 guard out of Clarksville High School in Tennessee, is a five-star prospect and the No. 13 player in the class of 2024 per ESPN HoopGurlz. She committed to Clemson in August.

As a junior, Berry averaged 26.1 points, seven rebounds, three assists and four steals per game and set a school record for most points in a season with 836.

"She can really score it, can score in all three levels, has great size, has tremendous handles," Clemson coach Amanda Butler told the Greenville News. "She loves people, and she was really drawn to the way relationships are emphasized in our program."

Berry will join Clemson's previous highest-rated recruit when she arrives on campus. In the class of 2022, the Tigers signed Ruby Whitehorn, a five-star and McDonald's All-American who was the No. 15 player in her class. Whitehorn was named to the ACC All-Freshman team last season after starting 33 games and scoring 9.5 points per game.

Butler said Whitehorn's decision to come to Clemson, which has made the NCAA Tournament once since 2003, paved the way for high-level players like Berry to do the same.

"It takes a whole lot of guts to be the first person to do something in a program that hasn't been to a Final Four yet," Butler said. "When another really high-level recruit like Imari chooses Clemson, it also validates her leadership and her courage to be someone who steps out and does something different."

Other recruits of Berry's caliber are committed to storied programs such as UConn, Notre Dame and South Carolina. Butler said it took hard work by the Clemson staff, including Berry's primary recruiter, assistant coach Joy Smith, to convince Berry to join the Tigers as they try to build their program.

"(Berry) stayed true to the things that were important to her: Relationships and opportunity in an environment where she was going to feel connected, where she was going to be challenged, and where she was going to have a chance to to make history as opposed to repeating someone else's history," Butler said. "She certainly could have gone to schools where there's a well-worn path to the places that we want to go. But I think when you're really special, you're interested in creating your own history, not following in the footsteps of someone else. That's certainly what our opportunity is at Clemson."

Clemson women's basketball adds second 2024 signee

In addition to Berry, Clemson signed 6-2 forward Morgan Miller out of Andover, Minnesota. Miller has scored 12 point per game in 28 contests for Andover High School, according to stats from the Star Tribune.

"It's really important in this class that we continue to fortify ourselves in the paint because we're losing some size and some bigs," Butler said. "Morgan will fill that role. Just a really good piece of how we want to play, and more than anything, she just really knew she wanted to be at Clemson."

Christina Long covers the Clemson Tigers for the Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. You can follow her on Twitter @christinalong00 or email her at clong@greenvillenews.com.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: What Clemson basketball coach Amanda Butler said about signee Imari Berry