The Arizona Wildcats’ roster rebuild continued on Wednesday with the addition of another Big 12 Conference star.
Esmery Martinez, a first-team All-Big 12 performer at West Virginia in 2020-21, posted to social media that she’s committed to the Wildcats.
“Lo mejor está por venir,”she wrote. The best is yet to come.
The 6-foot-2-inch combo guard/forward joins former Oklahoma State guard Lauren Fields, who announced Sunday night that she would be joining the UA.
The Wildcats have lost seven players to the transfer portal and a handful more to graduation since advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Arizona has lost seven players to the transfer portal so far this spring, though only one of them — guard Bendu Yeaney — was a starter. Bendu Yeaney (Oregon State), Netty Vonleh (Colorado), Koi Love (USC), Semaj Smith (San Jose State), Anna Gret Asi (Oklahoma State) and Gisela Sanchez (Kansas State) have all picked new schools. Guard Derin Erdogan has yet to pick a new school.
Coach Adia Barnes has begun replacing the transferring players with veteran that she hopes will mesh with the top-rated freshman class in program history.
A native of the Dominican Republic who attended high school in Tennessee, Martinez played three seasons at West Virginia. Here best season came in 2020-21, when Martinez averaged 13.6 points and 11.6 rebounds per game on the way to all-conference honors.
Her numbers fell to 11.3 points and 8.8 rebounds per game as a junior, though her 3-point shooting improved noticeably. Martinez hit 20 of her 50 attempts, a year after hitting 9 of 30 on the way to second-team all-league honors.
West Virginia forward Esmery Martinez shoots over Lehigh forward Emma Grothaus during the first half of their March 2021 game.
Martinez finished her WVU career with 25 double-doubles.
Martinez’s commitment to Arizona is a bit of a surprise. LSU announced April 24 that it had signed Martinez. At the time, coach Kim Mulkey called Martinez “a versatile player that can play a multitude of positions. Esmery is also a tenacious rebounder and defender and will fit right into our system in Baton Rouge!”
It’s unclear what led Martinez to change her mind.
