She Came Home

Jakia Brown-Turner: Bishop McNamara, NC State, Maryland, and the Washington Mystics

Mar 29, 2026

Women’s History Month 2026 · Day 29 · Diary of a Girl’s Basketball Coach

On April 6, 2023, the University of Maryland announced that NC State transfer Jakia Brown-Turner would spend her graduate year in College Park.

Coach Brenda Frese had a specific way of describing what that meant: “We actually recruited her out of high school, so we knew her from back then. She’s a proven player and winner at our game’s highest level. She’s proven to be a clutch player in big-time games.”

The phrase “we actually recruited her out of high school” carries weight in this story. Frese had watched Jakia Brown-Turner play at Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, Maryland. She had watched her become the all-time leading scorer in McNamara’s program history, lead the Mustangs to the WCAC championship with a 31-4 record, and earn the 2019 Maryland Gatorade Player of the Year award. She had wanted her then.

Four years at NC State, two ACC championships, a Sweet 16 and an Elite Eight later, Jakia Brown-Turner came home.

Oxon Hill to Forestville: Bishop McNamara and a Player Nobody Could Stop

Jakia Brown-Turner was born in Oxon Hill, Maryland — Prince George’s County — on February 11, 2001. She came to Bishop McNamara as a basketball player with the combination that makes evaluators reach for superlatives: 6-foot height, guard skills, shooting range out to the three-point line, explosiveness off the dribble, and the physical ability to finish at the rim against contact.

ESPN ranked her No. 15 in the 2019 recruiting class nationally. She played AAU for Team Takeover — one of the premier travel programs in the DMV. She was a three-time First Team All-WCAC selection across her high school career.

Her junior year, Bishop McNamara went 21-7. She was named First Team All-Met by The Washington Post.

Her senior year was the capstone: 31-4 record, the WCAC championship, and a program ranked top ten nationally. She averaged 16.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. She left as the all-time leading scorer in Bishop McNamara history. She was awarded the Frank L. Neitzey Award of Distinction — the highest honor given to Bishop McNamara’s top female student-athlete.

The national recognition that year was comprehensive: 2019 Maryland Gatorade Player of the Year. Selected to the 2019 McDonald’s All-American Game in Atlanta. Selected to the 2019 Jordan Brand Classic. Named to the Naismith Girls’ High School All-America Third Team. Received WBCA High School Coaches All-America Honorable Mention.

Maryland recruited her. She chose NC State.

NC State: Four Years of Winning in the ACC

Jakia Brown-Turner spent four full seasons at NC State under head coach Wes Moore, and what she built there was a career defined by championships and clutch performances in the most competitive conference in women’s basketball.

Freshman Year (2019-20): She averaged 13.5 points per game with a 44.2 percent field goal percentage, leading the team in scoring and earning ACC All-Freshman Team honors. She shot 37 percent from three-point range with a team-leading 1.6 made threes per game. She was immediately one of the best freshmen in the ACC.

Sophomore Year (2020-21): The breakthrough. She was named First Team All-ACC and earned an AP All-American Honorable Mention — her first nationally recognized individual honor at the college level. NC State won the ACC regular season championship. The Wolfpack advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, one of the best postseason runs in program history at the time. She was on the Naismith Trophy and Ann Meyers-Drysdale Award preseason watch lists heading into the year.

Junior Year (2021-22): NC State won the ACC championship again and advanced to the Elite Eight — the furthest the program had gone. In the ACC Tournament final against Florida State, Brown-Turner posted her first career double-double — 14 points and 10 rebounds — in the championship-winning performance. Her ability to deliver in the largest moments of the season had become her defining characteristic.

Senior Year (2022-23): She averaged 9.1 points and 3.9 rebounds per game, started all 32 games, and helped NC State earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. She finished her NC State career having started 123 of 124 games, scoring 1,273 career points, and ranking 11th in NC State program history in three-pointers made (159). Three-point shooting that started at 37 percent and remained a weapon throughout her four seasons — the ability to score from distance, from the mid-range, and at the rim made her one of the more complete offensive players in program history.

She had arrived in Raleigh with enormous expectations and met them consistently.

Coming Home: Maryland and a Final Season

After four years at NC State, Brown-Turner had one year of graduate eligibility remaining. The transfer portal opened the door. Maryland was waiting.

Frese reached out. The same coach who had watched her play in Forestville, who had wanted her out of Bishop McNamara, who knew exactly what kind of player she was — Frese called, and the conversation didn’t take long.

“Maryland is a place where players want to be,” Frese said. “We’re really excited about what lies ahead.”

Brown-Turner came home to College Park as one of the most experienced players in the Big Ten — a five-year college veteran who had won ACC championships, played in an Elite Eight, and started more than 150 games at the highest level of women’s college basketball. Maryland was replacing the production of Diamond Miller (WNBA second overall pick) and Abby Meyers (WNBA 11th overall pick) in the same offseason. The roster needed what she brought.

She delivered 13.5 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, starting all 32 games, leading the team in rebounds, and scoring in double figures in 23 of 32 games. She posted 6 double-doubles on the season. She was named All-Big Ten Second Team — her second career all-conference selection, this time in the Big Ten after her first in the ACC. Maryland returned to the NCAA Tournament and remained one of the program’s most competitive years under Frese.

Her five-year college career totals: 1,706 points, 731 rebounds, 302 assists in 156 games. She left college as one of the most decorated wing players Maryland — the state — had ever produced.

The Washington Mystics: Playing at Home

Jakia Brown-Turner went undrafted in the 2024 WNBA Draft. She signed a training camp contract with the Washington Mystics on April 18, 2024 — the professional team that plays 20 miles from where she grew up in Oxon Hill, the team whose home city is the city she had always known.

She appeared in both Mystics preseason games. In June 2024, the Mystics signed her to a hardship contract and she appeared in two WNBA games, scoring in each appearance.

It was the beginning of a professional journey for a player whose story is not finished.

What She Means to This Series — and to Bishop McNamara

This is the second consecutive article in this series about a Bishop McNamara player. Yesterday was Madison Scott (Day 28), the No. 13 recruit in the 2020 class, five seasons at Ole Miss, drafted 14th overall by Dallas in 2025. Today is Jakia Brown-Turner, the No. 15 recruit in the 2019 class, four seasons at NC State, one graduate year at Maryland, Washington Mystics.

Two players. Same school. Same AAU program (Team Takeover). Different graduating classes, different paths — Scott to Oxford, Mississippi; Brown-Turner to Raleigh and then home to College Park. Both programs honored as the best at their respective schools. Both going deep into major conference basketball. Both finding their way to the WNBA.

Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, Prince George’s County, Maryland has produced elite women’s basketball players at a rate that would make programs twice its size envious. Coach Frank Oliver Jr., who coached Brown-Turner at McNamara and later spoke about both Scott and King at the 2025 draft, built something in that building that the series is still documenting four articles from its end.

Jakia Brown-Turner is from Oxon Hill. She went to Forestville for high school. She went to Raleigh for four years of ACC basketball and two championships. She came home to College Park for one final college season. She signed with the team in the city where she was born.

Every stop on that journey was deliberate. Every stop produced something she could build on.

She came home at every stage. That’s who she is.

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