When Payton Muma committed to Gonzaga University to play basketball out of high school, it came to the surprise of many. With her family ties to the University of Wyoming and an offer from the Cowgirls after a highly successful prep campaign at Highlands Ranch High School, all roads seemed to take her to Laramie.
Instead, she decided to take a detour to Spokane, Washington to play for the prestigious Bulldogs at Gonzaga.
“I really loved the culture there and I loved that they would sell out almost all their games,” Muma said of her decision to commit and play at Gonzaga. “It was just a great school, it was a basketball school. That’s all they had…the main focus was basketball and I just really loved that.”
Payton went off today 🤩 pic.twitter.com/ZY5swYDxtT
— Gonzaga Women's Basketball (@ZagWBB) February 19, 2023
However, after two seasons of battling for playing time against a loaded roster at Gonzaga, Muma began to realize that it wasn’t the right fit for her. So, after just three years total with Gonzaga, including a redshirt season her freshman year, Muma made the decision to enter the transfer portal and try her luck at another school.
“I had two really good point guards in front of me…I never really got the opportunity to really showcase myself,” Muma said of her time at Gonzaga.
Despite Muma’s enchantment with Gonzaga and the historically successful program they ran in Spokane, Wyoming was an opportunity that never really left her thoughts, even after she chose Gonzaga over becoming a Cowgirl. Fortunately for Muma, head coach Heather Ezell and her staff had also kept Muma in their thoughts, and within just hours of entering the transfer portal, Muma received a call to come play for the Cowgirls.
This time, she wasn’t going to pass it up.
“When I entered the transfer portal, I was hoping [Wyoming] would call me,” Muma said. “They called me, literally two hours later, and I was like, I’m going there, without a doubt I’m going there.”
To say that Muma’s family was ecstatic to hear she was transferring to Wyoming would be an understatement. Muma’s parents are both alumni of Wyoming, and both her father and grandfather played football for the Cowboys. Most recently, her brother, Chad Muma, competed as an all-Mountain West linebacker for the Cowboys from 2018-2021 and also now plays in the NFL for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“They cried, I’m not even kidding. They cried when I called them and said, ‘I want to go to Wyoming,’” Muma recalled of when she broke the news to her family.
While an 0-2 start to the season is not what this Cowgirls team, nor Muma had in mind, the Cowgirls have still shown promise in tough, close battles against two Big 12 opponents. However, in both those games, the Cowgirls’ bench has scored only a combined two points. Muma, along with the rest of the Cowgirls’ reserves, will have to be more effective if the Cowgirls are to succeed at the level they’re expected to this season.
Muma, for one, certainly has not only the potential to be a crucial piece of the Cowgirls’ success, but also has the confidence to be as well.
“I feel like I have great energy as a person, and so I feel like I bring a lot to the team, whether that’s when I’m playing or if I’m just on the sideline cheering my teammates on,” Muma said.
Another crucial part in Muma’s smooth transition to the Cowgirls has been the teammates she’s been cheering on and playing with. The minute the Gonzaga transfer stepped foot in Laramie and the Arena-Auditorium and met the team, she instantly knew being a Cowgirl was a much better fit for her.
“I feel like coach Heather, she watched me a lot in high school, and knows who I am as a player,” Muma said.
“I feel very respected here and my teammates are just amazing, they all care so much about basketball, but also each other. We’re all connected, and I feel like we pick each other up…I just feel like it’s a great culture here.”
The schedule ahead for the Cowgirls doesn’t get any easier as the Cowgirls still have two integral matchups against Power Four opponents ahead of them. Better yet, Muma will have an opportunity to show off against her former school when the Cowgirls travel to Spokane to take on Gonzaga on November 17.
