CSU Bakersfield’s women’s basketball player, Jayden Eggleston signs a professional contract to take her talents across the southern border to be a part of the newly formed women’s team called the Adelitas Chihuahua. The team is located in Chihuahua city, playing in the East Division of the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional (The LNBP). Their home arena is the Gimnasio Manuel Bernardo Aguirre. 

“I have been playing basketball my whole life, playing professionally is everything I have ever worked for. All the hard work and blood sweat and tears over the last 18 years will have paid off,” said Eggleston.  

Eggleston had never been to Mexico prior to her signing but she did have prior plans on going to Mexico this spring. The thing is she was not expecting to go for basketball. 

“When I got the call from my agent, I was literally on the way to Mexico for spring break. I had to cancel my trip, turn around and had to turn back around and start packing to go play in Mexico,” said Eggleston.  

Eggleston is currently in Mexico preparing for her first game of the season on Saturday April 21. Being that she is completely new to the country and now in a pre-dominantly Spanish speaking country. Eggleston said she currently has an assistant coach who stands beside her during practices and does his best to translate for her. But even then, she says the English she receives is not the easiest to understand. Eggleston said she’s going to eventually have to learn Spanish to have better communication with her team. 

“It is definitely an adjustment with having to deal with a language barrier but at the end of the day it’s still basketball,” said Eggleston.  

Regardless of her family being away in her hometown in Las Vegas Nevada. Eggleston praises her family for always being there for her as a solid foundation over the years in supporting her and her dream to play professional basketball.  

“My family has been supportive of me this this whole time. My mom has been there since day one, without her none of this would be possible.” said Eggleston. Her family continues to be a great support system.  

“To them I’m the best player in the world, they’ve seen all the hard work I’ve put in over the years,” states Eggleston. 

Even while being a busy student athlete, she has found some spare time in her life to give back. She spent some time on the from a different side of the court as a coach. She was an assistant coach of the boys’ basketball team at Bakersfield Christian High school. There, she spread her knowledge of the game and experiences to a new generation of athletes. Eggleston believes the time she spent coaching at BCHS really helped her in her with her own game. 

“Coaching this year at BCHS with Garrett Brown really helped me out and it changed the way I see the game. If it weren’t for that opportunity, I would not be the player I was this year,” said Eggleston.  

Greg McCall has coached over 11 years for the women’s basketball team. He has spent three of those years coaching Eggleston in her time at the university. McCall had a few wise words to say about Eggleston and her new journey as a professional.  

“Stay how she is. Stay humble, stay extremely hungry. Continue to grind because she does have that Bakersfield grit. She always working, especially when no one’s looking,” said McCall. 

Years as a Roadrunner  

Eggleston was a staple in Roadrunners line up as the starting guard/forward, she led the women’s basketball team in minutes played recording up to 833 minutes on the court in her tenure. In this season she was averaging 33 minutes each game.  

No mistake for it, as Eggleston was a major part of the Roadrunners’ success in all her years as a Roadrunner. She was just the sixth player in CSU Bakersfield program history to rack up 1,000 career points as well as 500 career rebounds in her career as a Roadrunner, which will be recorded into the program’s history. 

Eggleston sure came through in big moments, scoring her career best of 29 points against CSU Northridge leading the team past the first round of the Big West playoffs in the 2022 season. She proved that the biggest moments were her best. Before that her previous highest scoring game came against The University of the Pacific, at the time a high-ranking program. Where she scored 21 points in a single game her sophomore year. Jayden Eggleston was named earlier this year on the top prospect draft list. This list had the top 88 players from across the country who are draft eligible and able to sign professionally at the end of the season.