Navaeh Asiasi’s Story From Challenges to a Championship
4.5 minute read
By Andrea Aruino
Player Development Coach, Navaeh Asiasi, had a remarkable senior season at Cal State LA. She was named 2025-26 CCAA Player of the Year and CCAA Tournament MVP, earned First Team All-Conference and First Team All-Region honors, was recognized as a Division II All-American, and helped lead the Golden Eagles to a CCAA Tournament Champion. These accolades are not to be missed when it comes to Asiasi’s journey, but this list represents four years of challenges and a determination to prove herself on the court.
Asiasi finished her final season at Cal State LA as the CCAA's leading scorer, averaging 19.4 PTS, 8.7 REB, 3.6 AST, and 2.7 STL per game while starting all 31 games for the Golden Eagles. Before becoming a champion and one of the most decorated players in program history, Asiasi had to work her way through uncertainty about what her role was within the team.
Her first offer came during the playoffs from Cal State LA, a D2 school, followed by offers from San Francisco State and Dominican. She chose LA and came in full force as a freshman during the 2022-2023 season. She appeared in all 30 games, making 25 starts while averaging 7.1 PTS, 3.0 REB, and 1.6 AST per game.
She was third on the team in scoring and reached double figures eight times. Coming from high school, she quickly learned that the Division II level was faster and required a different level of basketball IQ than she had experienced before. Although she had hoped to play Division I, her freshman season gave her an opportunity to adjust to the collegiate level.
Asiasi’s sophomore year was a completely different story. The team added several talented transfers and returned multiple All-Conference players, thus changing her role on top of also breaking her hand during preseason and missing eight weeks. Her parents encouraged her to consider transferring, but leaving Cal State LA was never something she seriously considered.
“I am the type of person where if there's a challenge or any sort of doubt, I’m going to go towards the challenge everytime,” Asiasi said.
Instead of focusing on what she could not control, Asiasi focused on improving her game, training consistently throughout the offseason. That mindset carried into her junior year, when she asked her coach for the opportunity to develop as a point guard.
“My coaches gave me the space I needed to grow. They weren't too overbearing but they weren't careless. They were just like the perfect medium for me and that’s something I’ll always be grateful for. They impacted my game more than they know,” Asiasi said.
By the time she entered her senior season in 2025-2026, Asiasi had a clear goal: make it her best year of basketball yet. Though the season did not begin the way she expected. Cal State LA lost its first two conference games, but instead of allowing those losses to define the season, the team used them as an opportunity to reconnect. After these two losses, a conversation held by their coaches followed, and what followed was a 15-game winning streak, the longest in program history.
That momentum carried the Golden Eagles into the postseason. After finishing third in the conference, Cal State LA entered the CCAA tournament with something to prove. In the championship game, the team faced Cal Poly Pomona, the same team they had lost to on Senior Night after being tied with them near the top of the standings. This time, Cal State LA left no doubt, defeating Pomona 78-62 to win LA’s first ever conference tournament championship.
The player who once struggled with limited playing time had learned to focus less on what she thought she deserved and more on what she could do to become the player her team needed. The championship also carried personal significance. When she chose Cal State LA, the possibility of creating another historic moment was part of what drew her to the program. Four years later, she accomplished exactly that.
After spending four years learning from her own coaches, Asiasi began developing the point guard side of her basketball career through Coach Hannah Johnson’s small group training at UPBasketball. The sessions gave her another opportunity to get on the court, work on her game, and compete in live runs with other players. Asiasi found that the environment helped build her confidence and gave her valuable reps leading into her senior season. Now, she has taken what she learned as a player and brought it into her role as a Player Development Coach at UPBasketball. Coaching allows her to work with younger athletes while continuing to be around the game she loves.
Moving forward, Asiasi will be playing in the FIBA Women’s Polynesian Cup 2026. As she continues to grow, she hopes to find herself playing overseas in the future. For now, she is continuing to develop both as a player and a coach, carrying the lessons from her own journey into the next chapter of her basketball career.
