It was Vanderbilt coach Greg Allen who finally was able to get Keith to leave Georgia.

Allen is in his second season as the coach at Vanderbilt after coaching the University of Arizona for seven years, winning the Pac-10 twice.

Vanderbilt made the NCAA Regional last spring. The 2008-2009 team has three seniors, giving Keith a chance to compete for spot as a freshman.

“I really liked the team and the coaches,” Keith said of her visit to the Vanderbilt campus. “And I love Nashville.”

She also said she wants play well enough to travel with the team as a freshman.

Vanderbilt also has signed Gabrielle Balit, originally from Montreal, Quebec, who currently attends Out of Door Academy in Bradenton, Fla., and Lauren Stratton of Spring Hill, Tenn., who won two high school championships in three years at Independence High.

Keith would like to win a state high school championship of her own next spring. She has finished second in the state Class AAAAA girls tournament twice.

Last May, she shot a 74 to finish just one shot back of Mill Creek’s Emily Berger.

She was this year’s Region 1-AAAAA girls tournament’s low medalist.

“She’s a great student, a great player and a wonderful Christian,” Dale said. “That says it all for me.”