What can Sammy White add to Northwestern women’s basketball?

The All-American defender is taking her talents from the turf to the hardwood.

With Kyla Jones and Mel Daley departing, Northwestern women’s basketball is losing a combined 20.3 points, 4.4 assists and 2.1 steals per game. Even with the addition of transfer Tate Walters, the Wildcats still had a fairly thin backcourt. Enter Sammy White.

Despite exhausting her collegiate eligibility for lacrosse after four seasons with the Lake Show, White still has an extra year of athletic eligibility. The former Maryland basketball sensation will get one final year in purple and white, but this time on the basketball court.

While her four years away from the hardwood might be a cause for some concern, White’s high school basketball career showcased a lot of potential. Despite not playing basketball in her senior year to focus on lacrosse full-time, White still scored over 1,000 career points as a high schooler. That includes a junior season in which she averaged 23 points per game and earned All-County honors for the second time. Here’s what White can bring to the Wildcats in Joe McKeown’s final season.

Pushing the pace

Northwestern women’s basketball has struggled with scoring in recent years. The last time the Wildcats scored over 70 points per game was the 2019-20 season — over half a decade ago. One of the major reasons for the low output is that Northwestern has struggled to convert turnovers into baskets. The Wildcats scored just 14.1 points per game off turnovers last season, compared to 19.8 points per game off turnovers in that 2020 campaign.

White became a Northwestern lacrosse icon precisely because she was so good at not only forcing turnovers, but turning them into transition opportunities. She was just as comfortable slicing into the fan on offense as she was checking an opposing player on defense. Behind White (as well as Jane Hansen), Northwestern lacrosse was one of the fastest teams in the nation last season, taking over 34 shots per game. The Wildcats’ opponents, meanwhile, took under 24 shots per game, mainly because they were always giving the ball away. White fueled a defense that forced 16.7 turnovers per game last season, and her speed and instincts should help her continue that trend on the basketball court.

Protecting possession

Hey, speaking of turnovers…giveaways were also a pretty big bugaboo for Northwestern women’s basketball last season. The Wildcats’ turnover margin of -1.19 was 232nd in the country, and ahead of only Wisconsin, Penn State and Purdue in the Big Ten. In terms of just raw numbers, the turnovers don’t stick out that much (Northwestern actually committed the fifth-FEWEST turnovers in the Big Ten last year), but for a team that played as slowly as the Wildcats, any missed opportunities loomed large. Not coincidentally, Northwestern was 4-4 last year when committing under 12 turnovers, compared to a 5-13 record otherwise.

Luckily, White will provide a steady hand. In her lacrosse career at Northwestern, she appeared in 81 games and committed just 52 turnovers. She tallied more draw controls in 2025 alone (59) than turnovers committed in her four-year career! As she gained more experience, White got even better at holding onto the ball — 22 of her final 38 games at Northwestern were turnover-free. Joe McKeown mentioned White’s leadership in his announcement of her acquisition for a reason. Her ability to keep control — even in transition — is going to be a massive boost for a team that had a tendency to get overaggressive.

Extra effort

Aside from the turnovers, Northwestern women’s basketball was often vicitmized by another key 50/50 battle a season ago: offensive rebounding. The Wildcats were 227th nationally with 10.4 offensive rebounds per game, the 12th-best mark in the expanded Big Ten. The real issue, though, came on Northwestern’s defensive glass — the ‘Cats gave up 317 offensive rebounds last season, good for a clip of 11.74 per game. That mark would have been 147th in the nation, just behind North Carolina State, a 2 seed in last year’s March Madness. Northwestern allowed fewer than 10 offensive rebounds just 10 times last season. Its record in those games? A blistering 9-1.

While White, who’s listed at 5-foot-6, isn’t anyone’s idea of a paint protector, her effort on the glass could prove invaluable to the Wildcats on the hardwood. This isn’t an apples to oranges comparison, but White picked up 51 ground balls last season, tied for 18th-most in the nation. Ground balls aren’t the same thing as defensive rebounds, but the act of gaining position for a bouncing ball should translate pretty well. And if you want to talk about boxing out, White was FEROCIOUS in the draw circle for the Wildcats. Despite never being a primary draw taker, White still racked up 210 over the course of her Northwestern career. With the addition of a proven winner who’s made the hustle plays for her entire career, Northwestern’s backcourt looks like it could make some noise this season.