In their 2024-2025 season, the CUC women’s basketball team won only five games, with just one victory in conference play. At the end of the season, the team’s nine leading scorers did not return, with five of them transferring to other programs, three graduating and the other joining the tennis program at CUC. Despite all of that, the Lady Cougars won 10 games this season and nine conference games. This resurgence of a season was led by two freshmen, Ai Yonemura and Naveya Jackson.
Yonemura came to CUC all the way from Yachiyo, Japan play basketball and earn a college degree in America. In her freshman season, she averaged nearly 17 points per game, which was the most of any freshman in the NACC and second most by anyone in the NACC. This along with almost four assists per game earned Yonemura NACC Freshman of the year alongside first team all-conference honors.
“I was glad to get the conference,” Yonemura said. “I’m from Japan so I didn’t know about the United States conference system.”
Graduate assistant coach Mikalah Ellis said the coaches knew they had found something special in Yonemura when they were recruiting her.
“Yonemura’s mixtape was one of the best mixtapes we’ve seen in a while, just because she could play both sides of the ball really well, along with her basketball vision,” Ellis said.
While entering as a freshman and becoming one of the best players is hard enough, doing so while coming to a different country and learning a new language shows Yonemura’s impressive work ethic. Ellis said it didn’t matter if it was learning a new language, a new culture, a new coaching staff, or a new system; Yonemura attacked all the challenges she faced head-on.
In their preseason testing, the coaches set a goal of a 7:45 mile time for their girls. In her first attempt, Yonemura very easily made the target time. Yonemura then ran a 6:08 mile time on an attempt shortly after. Ellis said this showed the coaches that Yonemura could be a special talent for the Cougars.
Outside of basketball, Yonemura is continuing to adjust to living in America. She said she is really working on her communication both on and off the court. She has also set a goal that seems universally relatable for college students.
“I feel like everything is expensive for me,” Yonemura said. “I need to save my money.”
Yonemura wasn’t the only Lady Cougar who had a special freshman season. Jackson, a guard from Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, averaged 13 points per game, which was second among all freshmen in the NACC, just behind Yonemura. Jackson’s season consisted of multiple 20-plus point games, along with a game-winner against crosstown rival Dominican in their Feb. 18 matchup.
Jackson faced her own set of challenges that she had to overcome in her freshman season. Despite being the second leading scorer on her team this past season and the second leading freshman in the conference in points per game, Jackson only started seven of the 23 games she played in this past season. Jackson credits how she dealt with the different roles to her mentality.
“I always had the same mentality going into the game, off the bench or starting,” Jackson said. “Obviously, it’s a big privilege to start, but if you don’t, you still need to be ready to go into the game and make an impact.”
When it came to making the impact she did her freshman year, Jackson wasn’t completely surprised. Although she didn’t know exactly what her role was going to be as a freshman, she always sets big goals for herself. She could come in and make an impact when her number was called.
The team will look to build off not only Yonemura and Jackson’s success, but also the successful season as a whole. The team graduated zero seniors from their team from the past season and hopes to use their year of experience together to build from this past season towards a conference championship next season.
“Now we have an older group going forward that has some experience,” Ellis said. “They love being around each other, they have that bond and chemistry, all we have to do is continue to put them in the right places.”
