Arizona women’s basketball: Priyanka Ponnam becomes Becky Burke’s first 2026 commit

The versatile forward will make the trek West to become a Wildcat

Becky Burke and her new Arizona women’s basketball staff have been out looking for the future of the program this summer. They had their first success on Friday when 2026 forward Priyanka Ponnam announced that she will be a Wildcat.

Burke went back to her roots in the Northeast to get her first verbal commitment for next year’s class. The 6-foot-2 Ponnam comes from Blair Academy, a prep school in Blairstown, NJ, The school, which bills itself as a “private, co-educational boarding school in north-western New Jersey,” plays in the Mid-Atlantic Prep League. The Bucs took the 2025 MAPL championship.

Ponnam started her high school playing career at George School in Newtown, Penn. where ESPN had her rated as a three-star prospect in the class of 2025. While ESPN has her surname misspelled, Prep Hoops also has her listed under the proper spelling of her name. That site has her playing for George School and the XGen travel program in the class of 2025.

Ponnam is not ranked by 247sports/Scout or on3/Rivals in either the class of 2025 or the class of 2026, although Rivals highlighted her as a player to watch in the New York area back in 2023. She is rated as a 3-star recruit in the class of 2026 by 247. She has also been noted by Prospect Nation for the class of 2026.

Prospect Nation only ranks the top 50 players in the class, but the site has her listed as a four-star recruit in the class of 2026. She is listed among the service’s Elite 150, which includes the ranked top 50 and another group of players who aren’t individually ranked but receive star ratings from the evaluators.

In the fall of 2024, Chris Hansen wrote on the Prospect Nation website that Ponnam “is a combo-forward we’ve seen impact the game both scoring and passing. When she’s working out of the high post, with her mid-range touch and ability to find cutters are on display. She’s comfortable hitting the trail three as well as showcasing her footwork in the post.”

Ponnam announced her move to Blair Academy in July of 2023 and was listed on NJ.com as a sophomore for the 2023-24 season. She plays club ball for Team Northeast.

She accounted for 7.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game in 26 games her sophomore year, according to NJ.com. She hit 2.2 shots per game from inside the arc and 0.7 shots from 3-point range that season.

As a junior, Ponnam was good for 12.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.8 blocks in 20.9 minutes per game, according to MaxPreps. She hit 48 percent of her shots from the field, including 41 percent from 3-point range. She connected on 72 percent of her free throws.

Ponnam had 1.7 turnovers and 0.8 personal fouls per game. MaxPreps also indicates that she had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.14, a steal-to-turnover ratio of 0.64, a steal-to-foul ratio of 1.42, and a block-to-foul ratio of 1.05.

During her two-year stint in New Jersey, she has contributed 10.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.7 blocks in 50 games. She hits 2.5 shots per contest from 2-point range and 1.3 shots from outside.

Ponnam has become a hot commodity of late. Arizona offered her over the summer according to social media posts by her club team. She also has announced offers from Purdue, Wake Forest, and Rutgers.

Ponnam is the second 2026 player to announce a verbal to the Wildcats, but she is the first for Burke. Arizona received a verbal commitment from 2026 Spanish guard Somto Okafor last November. However, that commitment was to the previous staff. Okafor is a star in the Spanish girls’ program, but only Arizona associate head coach Ashley Odom is following her on social media from the new staff. The current SMU staff continues to follow her. She plays for Segle XXI alongside Arizona freshman Mireia Jurado.

Highlights

Other highlights can be found on Ponnam’s HUDL profiles, which have film from as far back as 2019.