Basketball has done a lot for new Arizona forward Ajae Yoakum. It’s taught her about herself and taken her across the country. Now, she’s back in the state where her college journey started, preparing to play her fifth and final year with the Wildcats.
It’s the story of Yoakum’s life. She has gone where she needed to go to reach her goals. It started when she was in middle school.
“My high school coach came into the gym and asked if I wanted to play for his AAU team,” Yoakum said. “From there, I just started playing basketball. I played for him since sixth grade until I graduated from high school.”
Yoakum’s devotion to the game took her from her hometown of Portland, Ore. to the small town of Thatcher, Ariz. The rural mining and farming community is near Safford, about halfway between the San Carlos Apache Reservation and the Arizona-New Mexico border. It’s almost three hours east of Phoenix.
Culturally, it’s a conservative town that was established by members of the LDS Church in the late 1800s. If you’re looking for something different, the nearest city is Tucson, about two hours southwest of Thatcher.
Yoakum was there for one reason. That reason was Eastern Arizona College, an NJCAA Division I school whose women’s basketball team has players from all over the world. Last year, the Gila Monsters had just two players who went to high school in Arizona—and one of those was originally from Australia. There were players from eight states and seven countries in 2023-24.
Some people might have been overwhelmed to go from a city of over 600,000 to a remote town of fewer than 6,000. Yoakum didn’t look at it that way, though. She was determined to do what was required to improve her game. She also didn’t go alone.
“I actually went to school with one of my friends, Imani (Harris),” Yoakum said. “I played in high school with her. She played with me at Benson (Polytechnic), so it was good to have someone from home.”
For many, going to a juco is a disappointment. It’s evidence that they didn’t reach the goals they set for themselves when they started playing the game. Yoakum takes a different view.
“Juco really helps you grow,” she said. “It really helps you find yourself and just the player that you are and where you’re at with basketball. Honestly, I don’t think anything is wrong with going juco at all. I mean, I loved juco. It was a great experience for me and it helped me get to where I am today.”
Arizona has experience with taking a player who went the juco-to-D1 route. Trinity Baptiste made a similar journey, starting at a juco before going to Virginia Tech and landing at Arizona. She was a major contributor to the 2020-21 Wildcats team that made it to the national title game.
Yoakum worked on her craft at EAC, improving so she could take the next step in her career. What a step it was. Not only was she off to play NCAA Division I, but she was headed all the way across the country to attend Florida International in Miami.
It was another big change, but the only thing she really missed was her family. Even in Thatcher, they had been able to come down from Portland for multiple short visits. Once she went to the East Coast, they only got to see her on extended holidays like Christmas.
That doesn’t mean there weren’t other things to adjust to. She proved to herself that she could.
“My first year there I just was a little timid,” Yoakum said. “I didn’t know how I fit in. Coming from a JUCO to a D1, I was nervous. And then my second year I felt like I found myself. I was a really good player for them. I also say off the court, I just made a lot of friendships and I got a really good education.”
Her stats show just how much she settled in from her first year to her second. Yoakum’s numbers went up across the board. As a junior, she scored 5.2 points in 21.1 minutes per game on 42.5 percent shooting. She didn’t hit a single 3-point shot and took just 13 of them in 32 games. She got to the line 2.6 times per game and hit 67.9 percent of those shots. On the boards, she was good for 3.9 rebounds per game.
Yoakum’s senior year was going great. Through the first 18 games of the season, she had 15 starts. That was the same as she had in 32 games the season before. She was scoring 10.7 ppg in 28.9 mpg and her shooting percentage shot up to 51.9 percent. She even hit 3 of the 10 three-point shots she took. Her rebounds went up to 5.6 per game. She more than doubled her assists from 0.5 apg to 1.2 apg. On the downside, her turnovers increased from 1.5 to 2.4 per game. All of the increases, both positive and negative, were significant even when looking at her stats on a per-40-minute basis.*
Then, it came to an early end. Yoakum suffered a season-ending injury in late January. The last game she played was against Western Kentucky on Jan. 25. It was a blow for the entire team, who lost both Yoakum and teammate Maria Torres in a short span.
Yoakum wasn’t sure what she wanted to do for her fifth year. The thought of going back to FIU was not off the table, but the thought of moving back out West to be closer to her family was also attractive.
In the end, it came down to on-court development. It’s her major goal this year, although not the only one.
“This year, I just want to grow more, just develop a lot more,” Yoakum said. “I know Adia (Barnes) will help me with a lot of developing. Her staff is really good. Just helping my skill, just taking my game to the next level. And then just being around girls who all want the same goals as me. That push me, as well. Hold me accountable, which they have been doing a really good job of.”
As for what she offers the team, she thinks her athleticism and her desire to play defense will both be important. It may be her mentality that is most important, though. Barnes often talks about how much she loves players who are “fearless” on the court. Yoakum has certainly exhibited that fearlessness off the court at a young age.
“I’m just not scared of change,” Yoakum said. “And I just like to bet on myself and take those chances just for myself and just take whatever comes with it I always say. So it wasn’t hard for me to make the decision and just put me first and see what I really wanted.”
*All stats come from Her Hoop Stats
