MINNEAPOLIS – Minnesota women's basketball head coach
Lindsay Whalen announced Friday the addition of Mi'Cole Cayton to the Gophers' program. Cayton is a 5-9 guard from Stockton, Calif., who spent her last two seasons at Nebraska after spending three seasons at Cal Berkeley. She will have one year of eligibility at Minnesota.
Cayton has played in 78 games in her career, 38 at Cal and 40 with the Cornhuskers. Cayton has overcome multiple knee injuries during her collegiate career. After being named to the All-PAC 12 Freshman team in 2016-17, Cayton suffered an ACL tear at Cal in 2017-18 in the season opener and then missed the majority of her 2018-19 season due to another surgery. After transferring to Lincoln, Cayton played in 40 games and total 101 points, 43 rebounds, 34 assists and 19 steals.
Off the court, Cayton earned Academic All-Big Ten honors in 2022 and is a three-time Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll selection. She was also a member of the Tom Osborne Citizenship Team in 2021. She was on the board of the Black Student-Athletes Committee at California.
"I am excited to announce the signing of Mi'Cole Cayton to our program," head coach
Lindsay Whalen said. "Mi'Cole is a leader on and off the floor, as well as in the community. She's an Academic All-Big Ten student who will represent our program values. Her competitive drive and tenacity will be infectious for our fans. She also brings a high level of versatility and skill to our roster. We cannot wait to get started with Mi'Cole."
In her most recent season in Lincoln, Cayton came off the bench in 26 games and averaged 2.4 points per game while shooting 32.5 percent from beyond the arc. Cayton erupted for a Nebraska career-high 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting with a pair of threes in a win at Wake Forest (Dec. 1). Cayton played in both of Nebraska's Big Ten Tournament games as well as the team's game in the NCAA Tournament First Round against Gonzaga.
Coming out of high school, Cayton was rated as the No. 78 player overall in the nation and the No. 17 guard by ESPN. The WBCA High School All-American averaged 12.0 points and 2.0 steals per game as a senior, while leading St. Mary's (Stockton) to a 28-1 record and a No. 2 final national ranking in the espnW 25 Power Rankings. She was one of six finalists for Cal-Hi Sports State Player of the Year. She led all scorers with 21 points to power St. Mary's to a CIF section title over Mater Dei and former UConn star Katie Lou Samuelson. Cayton was a Cal-Hi Sports Elite All-State, All State Division I, Underclass Junior and Underclass Sophomore selection. Cayton was also the Northern California preps Player of the Year. She played club basketball for the California Storm under Coach George Quintero, and she was a member of the Nike Tournament of Champions All-Tournament Team.
Cayton becomes the second transfer to join the Golden Gopher program this offseason, joining Destinee Oberg (Arkansas). She becomes the first California native to play for Minnesota since Moneeke Bowden (Bakersfield) and Brandi Harris (Long Beach) played for the program from 1998-00.
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