A’Jah Davis continues to score in life, helping next generation of hoopers

DeKALB – A’Jah Davis once believed that following her hoop dreams meant going overseas to play basketball.

That was until this past fall when the DeKalb native decided to come back home.

Davis, a standout NIU women’s basketball star and lifelong DeKalb resident, said she started to realize it was time for a homecoming.

“I played a season, and I thoroughly enjoyed it,” Davis said. “[It] just overall was missing the family and community atmosphere that I had here at NIU.”

Davis is referring to the Pioneras de Delicias, a women’s basketball team out of Mexico.

She said DeKalb has always embraced her.

“At NIU, I literally had the red carpet,” Davis said. “I had family. I had communion. I had basketball. I had exactly what I wanted.”

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DeKalb native and former Northern Illinois University basketball player A'Jah Davis celebrates with her team during a relay race Saturday, May 24, 2025, at her A'Jah Davis Foundation Basketball Camp and Wellness Day at DeKalb High School. (Mark Busch)

Sycamore resident Abby Oster, 17, said she considers herself a “big fan” of Davis.

Oster has known Davis for about six years when she started watching her courtside at NIU women’s basketball games with her mom.

“I love her resilience and also just the way she connects with her teammates,” Oster said. “She’s a hard worker.”

Davis has embraced helping the next generation of hoopers to refine their skills. A family friend encouraged her to establish a foundation focused on health, education and wellness, which she said she is using to run sponsored basketball summer camps.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, Davis hosted a charity event for the nonprofit she created in 2024, the A’Jah Davis Foundation. The packed event featured a basketball camp and wellness day along with an all-white, meet-and-greet gala.

Joining the weekend’s volunteer group was Oster.

Oster said Davis is among the women who have inspired her to take her own game to the next level. Oster has since committed to playing women’s basketball at Augustana College in Rock Island.

“Watching her and a bunch of other girls growing up and being involved with basketball, while also watching them has really inspired me to want to play in the collegiate level,” Oster said of Davis.

Davis said she wants to lead by example in everything she does.

“I always say I’m a product of University Village [apartments] because you know, people say ‘There’s not good things that come out of the University Village,’ and I’m a product of it,” Davis said. “I know that I am something good that has come out of there.”

From competing in collegiate women’s basketball at NIU and Seton Hall to playing abroad, Davis said she feels like she has done it all.

Playing organized basketball keeps Davis active to this day, even if it’s just a hobby. Davis said she is having fun in a couple of different leagues with some of her former NIU women’s basketball teammates.

When asked if she is leaving the door open to making another run at playing basketball overseas in the future, Davis said she’s right where she wants to be.

“I don’t see myself heading back overseas,” Davis said. “Maybe there’s a semi-pro team. There’s tons of semi-pro teams that I know I will probably be active in this summer in the states. But as far as overseas [basketball,] I feel like I’ve been there, done that. [I] had the experience and had a good one at it, but I want to be in my community.”