It has been a challenging start to April for state champion basketball player Erica Gribble.

The four-star point guard from Greensburg Central Catholic committed to Richmond about a year and a half ago and signed with the Spiders.

The ink was long dry, and she didn’t give her commitment a second thought. Why would she?

But what appeared to be a done deal took a turn nine days ago when Richmond head coach Aaron Roussell resigned to take over the women’s basketball program at Virginia.

“It was definitely overwhelming at first,” Gribble said.

The Class 3A state player of the year fretted only briefly, however, because her heart told her to follow the man who was loyal from the start.

Gribble announced Tuesday she is following Roussell to Virginia, decommitting from Richmond to join the Cavaliers.

Roussell was in Hershey last month to watch Gribble win a PIAA championship.

“Once I talked to coach and went on a visit, I knew it was the right decision,” Gribble said of Virginia. “It’s a great academic school, great campus and I ultimately wanted to stay with coach Roussell and play in his system.”

Richmond and Virginia are the only two schools Gribble visited. She spent time at the latter Sunday.

A 5-foot-11 senior, Gribble finished her prep career as the all-time leading scorer in GCC history with 2,380 career points,17th most in WPIAL girls history.

This season, she averaged 21.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.6 steals, 2.9 assists and made 97 3-pointers. She made 296 3s in her career, the most in Westmoreland County history.

She was a McDonald’s All-American Game nominee and is rated as the 80th-best player in the Class of 2026 by ESPN.

Gribble led GCC to three straight WPIAL championship games, winning two in a row, Class 2A two years ago, and 3A last season.

Virginia this season made the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2000. The school, however, parted ways with fourth-year coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton.