Arizona guard Brooklyn Rhodes warms up with her new teammates before the Wildcats faced USC on Thursday at McKale Center. UA head coach Adia Barnes added Rhodes to the Wildcats’ roster recently.

Brooklyn Rhodes never imagined the second semester of her freshman year of college would look like this.

After a two-week tryout, she hopped on a plane on Feb. 24 to the Bay Area to dress for her first game as a member of the Arizona women’s basketball team the following day — the same team that knocked off college basketball’s No. 3 team in the country just the night before.

And she even got in the game for the final few minutes of UA’s 87-68 blowout at Cal on Feb. 25.

Over the last month, Rhodes went from a student taking out loans to pay for school and in the work-study program, to joining an NCAA Division I basketball team and on scholarship.

Like other little girls growing up, Rhodes may have dreamed of playing college basketball at one point, but she never imagined it would happen like this.

She was a three-sport athlete in high school, winning state championships in basketball and soccer at St. Louis’ Whitfield School. In her senior year, she decided to try out volleyball, too.

Rhodes

At the point this season that the UA women’s basketball team started looking for additional players — injuries and players stepping away from the program have left the Wildcats with as few as seven available on some nights — Rhodes hadn’t played much basketball for a few years.

“I had been playing basketball at the break — like pick up with my friends for a couple weeks before I heard about the tryout,” Rhodes said. “I was getting back into it. I was having fun, so I was like, ‘Let me reach out and see how it goes.’

“I ended up here which is kind of crazy. I always knew that there was a chance that I would get this far but I didn’t know (it would be anything like this). It’s kind of surreal experience. I’m glad I’m here.”

Arizona coach Adia Barnes took her time in selecting someone to add to the team — especially coming in so late in the season. Finding the right fit with the team’s chemistry was more important than just adding anyone to the bench.

In Rhodes, she found someone who played AAU ball with freshman guard Jada Williams and who seems to have slipped in naturally with the team.

“She can shoot the 3 and she’s strong,” Barnes said. “I’m excited to see what we can do with her (in the offseason), because I think she can help.”

Barnes added that over the next few weeks the coaching staff will teach her a few sets just in case they run into foul trouble and need someone else to come off the bench.

Rhodes is also someone who has played on smaller teams in the past, so she understands that everyone having a role and players step up at different times.

The 6-foot forward gets the team part of it all, too.

“You basically have best friends to go on the court with and they give some support,” Rhodes said. “They support me and I support them. I just think it’s a good community to be a part of.”

It didn’t take long for Barnes to decide to put Rhodes on scholarship either. Rhodes is the second walk-on to receive a scholarship this season. Erin Tack, who is also on the UA track and field team as a javelin thrower, walked on in November and got a scholarship a few days later, before tearing her ACL. Tack had surgery in January, is rehabbing now and expects to be back practicing with the team in August.

When Rhodes found out about her scholarship was excited; she also didn’t have to go back to work.

When she called her dad, he tried to play it cool, “but I knew he was happy about it and then my mom called me later and she was yelling through the phone.

“I was just happy they wouldn’t have to help me pay for school,” Rhodes said.

Calm and steady

Barnes said when she asked Rhodes after the Cal game, on a scale of 1 to 10 how nervous she was stepping on the court, the walk-on said a “two.”

That’s just how Rhodes rolls now — steady.

Still, there was a time when the rookie wasn’t so calm and collected.

Rhodes started playing basketball when she was five years old at the YMCA.

“I would cry a lot on the bench,” Rhodes said. “I’d have to get one of the coaches to hold my hand because I was scared. It’s funny looking back, but I guess that’s how it started.

“I was probably scared because I didn’t know what to do and I used to be like really nervous in front of like people. I was probably anxious and scared (with) a lot of people there watching.”

She shook that off pretty quickly and fell in love with the game and in the summer before eighth grade was selected to play in the 2018 Jr. NBA Tournament in Florida, where her team won the championship. She blocked shots, collected assists and scored during that run.

The Rhodes-Williams connection was easy to pick right back up, even though they hadn’t seen each other since their time in AAU together around ninth grade. All it took was a little “What’s up?” in the weight room.

Rhodes’ and Williams’ moms have kept in touch throughout the years and talked when Rhodes started this process.

For now, Rhodes is mainly in individual skills with her coaches as her current classes, already mid-semester, run at the same time as the team’s practice. However, she participated in Friday’s practice and admitted she was a little sore. It’s all worth it, though, as she’s having fun “trying to get back into the groove of everything. And I definitely like to push myself to get to that level.”

Rhodes said the best thing is how welcoming her teammates have been and getting the feeling that they all want her there.

“I was following the team throughout the season and I knew they were good,” Rhodes said.

“Getting to see behind the scenes and all the work they put in, it’s cool to see. Hopping in there, I definitely have to get adjusted. Everything has been a fun process and I am enjoying the journey. Everyone’s so talented and hard working. Very passionate too, which is good.”

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Former Arizona Wildcats men's basketball player and longtime Major League Baseball legend Kenny Lofton saw his name placed in the UA basketball Ring of Honor at McKale Center Saturday, March 2, 2024, during a UA blowout win over Oregon. (Courtesy Arizona Athletics)

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Contact sports reporter PJ Brown at pjbrown@tucson.com. On X(Twitter): @PJBrown09