BREAKING: Lacrosse All-American Sammy White joins Northwestern women’s basketball for 2025-26 season

Northwestern has its next lacrosse-to-basketball sensation.

Former Northwestern lacrosse defender Sammy White will remain in purple for one more year, but she’ll trade the field for the court.

On Friday, around four weeks after the conclusion of the 2025 NCAA lacrosse season, Northwestern announced that she would be playing basketball for the Wildcats during the 2025-26 NCAA season as a graduate student. Although she has exhausted all four years of her eligibility in lacrosse, she still has one year left to play another sport, as NCAA rules limit athletes to a five-year clock to play four years of a single sport.

White initially entered the transfer portal for basketball in December 2024, before her senior season of lacrosse. Even with her basketball commitment, she is reportedly still leaving the door open for her lacrosse career post-Northwestern — whether that be for the U.S. national team or through opportunities in the Women’s Lacrosse League. She will suit up for Team USA at the 2025 PALA Championships next week, which serves as a qualifier for the 2026 World Championships.

From 2022 to 2025, White started nearly every game for Northwestern, helping the team to three Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles, four Final Fours and the 2023 NCAA championship. She also accumulated various individual honors, including the 2022 Big Ten Freshman of the Year award, second-team IWLCA All-American recognition in 2023, first-time IWLCA All-American recognition in 2025 and first-team All-Big Ten honors in 2023 and 2025. After the 2023 NCAA championship, she was named the game’s most outstanding player after tallying seven draw controls, six ground balls, three caused turnovers and a goal.

Despite spending most of her career as a defender, White was one of the most versatile players for Northwestern. She spent her freshman and part of her sophomore year as a midfielder and has seen her fair share of offensive action, accumulating 17 career goals and 12 assists. She’s also a staple in the draw circle, tallying 210 draw controls. But that doesn’t overshadow her greatness on defense, where she had 153 career ground balls and 101 caused turnovers — ranking in the top six all-time amongst Northwestern players in both categories.

White last played basketball during her time at Dulaney High School in Maryland, where she accumulated over 1,000 career points. Even before committing to Northwestern for lacrosse, she was interested in playing basketball on a collegiate level.

“I’ve always wanted to play basketball in college, honestly, but, it’s still technically a possibility depending on what happens, like I would still be interested in playing if that works out with my schedule and my body cooperates with that,” White told the Baltimore Sun in July 2020, following her junior year of high school. “But I think lacrosse is where I am able to shine more and I’m more confident and just believe in myself more and I just felt more dedicated to lacrosse.”

At 5’6, White will be the shortest player on Northwestern women’s basketball’s roster, with 5’7 rising sophomore guard Xamiya Walton being the player closest to her in height. And while White is considered undersized for basketball, there have been guards her height with success stories — most notably 5’6 Georgia Amoore, a former point guard for Virginia Tech and Kentucky who was selected sixth overall in the 2025 WNBA Draft by the Washington Mystics.

By playing basketball, White will transition from one of Northwestern’s most successful programs to a struggling one. NU women’s basketball is coming off its second straight season with just four Big Ten wins, failing to qualify for the Big Ten tournament last season. With White and transfer additions Tate Walters and DaiJa Turner, head coach Joe McKeown looks to turn the program’s tide in his final season before retirement.

White is not the only Northwestern-affiliated lacrosse player competing in multiple collegiate sports. The most notable example is Pat Spencer, who won the 2019 Tewaaraton Award playing lacrosse for Loyola-Maryland before joining Northwestern men’s basketball for the 2019-20 season. Spencer now plays for the Golden State Warriors in the NBA. Meanwhile, Lindsey Frank and Alia Marshall played on Northwestern’s field hockey and lacrosse rosters during the 2023-24 season. As she kicks off her collegiate basketball career, White will be the next to join this exclusive multi-sport club.