Arizona women’s basketball picks up UC San Diego transfer Sumayah Sugapong

High school teammate of former Wildcats Jada Williams and Breya Cunningham joins the new Wildcats

Sumayah Sugapong won’t be playing with her former teammates, but she will be trying to help rebuild the program that they were members of last season. The 5-foot-7 sophomore guard from UC San Diego played at La Jolla Country Day School with former Arizona women’s basketball players Jada Williams and Breya Cunningham. According to Talia Goodman of on3.com, Sugapong is on her way to UA.

The second-year player was the Most Outstanding Player at the Big West tournament as she helped her team secure an NCAA Tournament berth. The team went 20-16 overall and 13-7 in Big West play. The Tritons bowed out to Southern in the First Four.

She was tabbed as the Big West Freshman of the Year in her first season. She made the Big West All-Freshman team and was All-Big West honorable mention after the 2023-24 season.

She was a team captain at LJCD in 2021-22 and 2022-23. She helped her team to CIF titles in 2019 and 2021. The team was the MaxPreps National Champion in 2019.

Sugapong led the Tritons with 14.7 points, 3.6 assists, and 2.5 steals per game last season. She was fourth on the team with 4.3 rebounds per game. She will need to cut down on turnovers, which also led the team at 4.5 per game.

Sugapong shot 34.9 percent overall. She was good on 37.4 percent of her 2-point shots and 27.7 percent of her 3-point shots. She also hit 76.1 percent of her free throws.

She comes to Tucson with a lot of experience despite being in just her second season of college basketball. She played in 63 games over her two years at UCSD. All of them were starts. She averaged 31.0 minutes per game over her career and 33.4 mpg in 2024-25.

Her history against high major competition suggests that she has solid scoring potential but can be bothered by pressure.

Sugapong faced two Power 4 teams this season. One of them was a home tilt against Arizona. She played 23 minutes against the Wildcats on Nov. 10. She scored five points on 2-of-9 shooting. Arizona turned her over seven times against zero assists.

She had a much better outing later in the month when the Tritons traveled to Stanford. She put up 21 points (9-of-23) and grabbed six rebounds against the Cardinal. She had a strong game on defense with seven steals and a block. She still had some issues with turnovers—committing four against Stanford—but they were offset by three assists this time.

Sugapong also faced the Wildcats in 2023-24. That game was on the road. It was her lone Power 5 foe as a freshman.

She went 4 for 11 from the floor against UA on Dec. 7, 2024. She scored 12 points and grabbed one rebound. She once again had trouble with Arizona’s pressure, turning the ball over six times while recording no assists.

Sugapong becomes the eighth transfer to Arizona since new head coach Becky Burke took over. She makes a roster of nine, including returner Montaya Dew. She is the fifth guard on the team.