Gonzaga's Yvonne Ejim is as impressive off the court as on
Welcome to the fourth installment of our series spotlighting each of the five finalists for the 2024 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year. Each day this week, we will publish a spotlight on one finalist for this year’s award, introducing you to each of these spectacular players.
Monday - McKenna Hofschild, Colorado State
Tuesday - Abbey Hsu, Columbia
Wednesday - Katie Dinnebier, Drake
Thursday - Yvonne Ejim, Gonzaga
Friday - Rachael Rose, Wofford
If you’re a women’s college basketball fan, you should have heard of her. After all, Gonzaga’s Yvonne Ejim’s name appears over and over among the top 10 of numerous statistical categories.
She has the second-best player efficiency rating (PER) in Division I behind only Stanford’s Cameron Brink. She ranks fourth in both win shares and win shares per 40 minutes. Only five other players connect on more than her 8.5 successful field goals per game. She stands eighth in player offensive rating.
She’s doing it on one of the most successful teams in the country, too. The Bulldogs are 32-3 this season. They are ranked seventh in Her Hoop Stats rating and 12th according to the NET. Despite losing their conference tournament championship game, they earned a No. 4 seed and the right to host the opening rounds. They are the first mid-major program to host first and second-round games since 2012 when Elena Delle Donne led Delaware to a No. 3 seed.
Then again, you may not know Ejim’s name. A Google search turns up very little media coverage outside Gonzaga’s hometown of Spokane, Wash. A story by The Next from last December and a video segment from The Sports Network in her native Canada are the only actual media coverage from outside the Spokane area on the first page of the search results. All of the other results consist of stat pages or local coverage.
Perhaps that’s why someone with her stats didn’t make one of the three Associated Press All-American teams despite head coach Lisa Fortier scheduling a challenging nonconference slate. Ejim was announced as an honorable mention last week. That is only the second AP All-American recognition any Gonzaga player has ever received, after Courtney Vandersloot.
Ejim faces the double-whammy of being the star player for a mid-major and playing on the West Coast, a combination that dooms many to a similar fate. Her opponents face the double-whammy of a player who is both very driven and very talented. With a nonconference schedule built to help boost the Bulldogs’ NET, some of the best teams in the country have learned that lesson.
Her drive and talent don’t just show up on the court where she averages 19.9 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game. Ejim is the epitome of the true student-athlete.
She is on a pre-medical track with hopes of becoming a doctor. She credits the Gonzaga community with her ability to be one of the best players in the country while also working to become a healer.
“It definitely is a lot easier just because of the support that I get here in the academic department, from my professors as well and also my classmates,” Ejim said. “So, I feel like the experience I've had in those programs has been super fun. And I've met a lot of amazing professors and a lot of amazing classmates and friends through that. I think that we kind of stick it through and get through the grind. And I also had teammates before that followed a similar path, so they've helped me a lot, too.”
Having that support and feeling of community was important to Ejim when she was choosing a school. She is one of 10 children with four older brothers and five younger siblings. Being part of such a large family prepared her for the team environment.
“Definitely very busy and very noisy a lot of the time,” Ejim said about her home life. “But just being an older sister, and then also the younger sibling as well, I feel like I learned to kind of understand the people around me, especially my siblings, and also try my best to be a role model for them and be a leader. So I feel like those qualities have helped me to be a teammate.”
Her family might have had enough children to play five-on-five, but basketball wasn’t Ejim’s first sport. It was the one that her family led her to, though.
“I first started off with tennis and things like that,” she said. “So I played a little bit of that for like a year or two, and then I kind of transitioned into sports. But my older brothers played basketball, as well, and I feel like that's what really kind of pushed me to continue to play basketball.”
When she started taking visits and deciding on a school, she felt that Gonzaga was just a continuation of that.
“I think if anything, it was really the kind of community that they built here in the women's program,” Ejim said. “I feel like there's a family atmosphere. I felt like I [was] already a part of the team when I came on my visit. And then also just about Lisa, she was a competitor. And she really just wanted the best, not only for our team, but the program and the system that she was building as well. And I feel like that's what attracted me. I wanted to be a part of that and I want to grow within that.”
Wanting to be part of what Fortier was building helped Ejim stay patient. When she arrived, she was behind an experienced group and didn’t see the court much her freshman year. She averaged just 6.6 minutes per game that year before jumping to more than 20 her sophomore season.
It was hard during that first year, but she knew she was working towards something. It wouldn’t always be that way.
“I don't know if this is how it is for other players,” Ejim said about her long-term vision. “I'm not speaking out on other players, things like that, but I knew that Gonzaga’s a place I wanted to be for four years, it wasn't a place that I was gonna move so easily.”
She kept her eye on the long-term possibilities rather than the frustrations she might feel in the moment.
“And I knew there was always an opportunity waiting for me. I just had to realize it and take advantage of it. And I do believe that I had a lot of those opportunities that some people don't get in their freshman year. And I think that is what really helped me kind of see what I was meant to be on this team and how I could contribute to be a part of this program. I think a lot of those factors helped me.”
Those around her helped her through that process.
“And then just being able to keep connected with basketball through my teammate (Louise Forsyth). She was very helpful my freshman year and I feel like she really kept me being patient and being steady and continuing to just not lose passion for the sport just because I wasn't playing a lot my freshman year.”
All of her experiences in Spokane have prepared her for great things back in Canada, too. When Canada went to the Olympics in 2021, the team included college players Shaina Pellington of Arizona, Laeticia Amihere of South Carolina, and Aaliyah Edwards of Connecticut. Ejim is on track to be the next player doing double duty.
She has already announced that she will return to Gonzaga for her fifth year. Over the summer, she hopes to be in Paris for the 2024 Olympic Games. She recently helped Canada qualify, missing two Gonzaga games to make the trip to Hungary. The lessons she brings back from being with the professionals on the national team show her what the future can be.
“I'm definitely learning a lot from them,” Ejim said. “It's a whole other world and the professional career and just being able to experience that makes me know how much more I gotta work and how much focus I got to have when I'm coming out every single day trying to build on the player and the person that I am today. And I think just being able to experience that in and of itself has helped me just grow mentally around the game and just understand how I can be the best version of myself.”
She was a very good version of herself in the NCAA Tournament Round of 64 when she scored 25 points and snagged 14 rebounds to go with her four assists against UC Irvine.
Things were even more challenging in the second round when the Bulldogs faced the Utah Utes, led by 2023 Pac-12 Player of the Year and All-American Alissa Pili.
Ejim ended the game with another double-double, scoring 17 points on 50 percent shooting and grabbing 13 rebounds. The All-American on the other team scored 35, but Ejim’s team walked away with an 11-point victory and a trip to the Sweet Sixteen in Portland, Ore. to face one-seeded Texas.
Her prowess on the boards turned out to be as important as her scoring. Eight of her 13 rebounds came in the fourth quarter as the Utes were trying to come back from a double-digit deficit. While the guards took over the scoring, Ejim cleaned the glass to keep Utah from getting second-chance opportunities.
The opportunity in front of her team is to reach just the second Elite Eight in program history. The Bulldogs are in their fifth Sweet Sixteen, but there’s more for Ejim and her team to accomplish.
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Sadly I am one of those who did not know this player. That's why I love Her Hoops Stats, keeping me up to date. I'll be on the lookout for Yvonne from now on.