Arizona women’s basketball gets commitment from South Carolina forward Sahnya

Sometimes all it takes is a second chance. Former South Carolina Gamecock Sahnya Jah will get that at Arizona. The 6-foot-1 forward announced her commitment to the Wildcats on social media Monday afternoon.

Jah was the 40th-ranked player in the class of 2023 according to ESPN HoopGurlz and was WBCA All-America honorable mention her senior year. The Alexandria, VA native spent her first three seasons playing at Bishop McNamara in Maryland. She transferred to Montverde Academy in Florida her senior season where she helped the team claim the 2023 GEICO High School National Championship.

Jah appeared in 16 games for the eventual national champions last season. She averaged 3.1 points and 2.0 rebounds in 9.1 minutes per game.

Jah ran into problems with head coach Dawn Staley in February, though. She was suspended for conduct detrimental to the team on Feb. 8, although Staley said she could work her way back onto the team. Instead, she entered the transfer portal when it opened in March.

“It is unfortunate that her time with us was short, but we wish her the best in the next steps of her career,” Staley said in a statement that was quoted by the Associated Press.

It is not the first time Arizona head coach Adia Barnes has taken in a player who had difficulty with her coach at a previous stop. A case in point was former starting point guard Shaina Pellington, who left Oklahoma after her sophomore season, who Barnes felt did a lot of growing up and changing while at Arizona. Barnes has also noted that former Arizona forward Trinity Baptiste did not have “the perfect reputation” when she came to Tucson, but taking her turned into one of the coach’s best decisions.

In early February, Barnes talked about her process with transfers these days. She said because of previous misjudgments, she now goes further back into their past, evaluating families and even high school relationships.

“You have to, now for sure,” Barnes said. “You always did that with high school kids. With transfers, it’s different now after my experience. Now, I’m like Private Eye Barnes. Now, I’m calling the high school coach. Even if they’re three years out, I still do that, because I had a situation where I was like, ‘Gosh!’ It was a bad misjudgment on someone who I thought was awesome. So because of that, I do it.”