Women’s Basketball Player Courtney Edmundo Soars to New Heights on the Court and in Class
The Rutgers-Camden sophomore guard wants to transfer her skills working under pressure to a career in medicine
Courney Edmundo has reached new heights since coming to Rutgers.
On Monday, she was named the New Jersey Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Defensive Player of the Week. She leads the Rutgers-Camden Women's Basketball team in scoring (14.5), rebounding (9.3) and blocked shots (11) and had a career-high 22-point outing vs. Haverford on November 11. She had her first double-double of the season vs. Baruch on Nov. 14 with 11 points and 12 rebounds and had a career high six blocked shots on Nov. 15 vs. FDU-Florham. She also tied for the team lead with 10 steals.
In addition to those impressive stats, the 5’10 sophomore guard is a dean’s list student and one of only 41 athletes on the 180-member Spring 2025 Athletics Director’s Honor Roll to post a 4.0 GPA—a resume that earns her distinction as an ultimate scholar athlete.
“My academic drive comes from my parents and my family overall,” Edmundo said. “Growing up, seeing how hard they worked to give me and my siblings the life that we have now really motivated me to stay in my books and to be the person who I am today.”
A biology major with an eye towards attending medical school and an end goal of becoming an anesthesiologist, the Piscataway, N.J. native's soft-spoken delivery belies the fiery determination that she displays with respect to both her academic and athletic careers.
“Anesthesiology requires a lot of education and precision and it fits my personality because I am a perfectionist,” she explained. “I know that I can really strive in that field because I also thrive working under pressure and those are the two main things you have to have in order to be in that field.
As she works toward a demanding career that requires years and years of education beyond a bachelor’s degree, Edmundo is quick to point to her family as the source of her inspiration.
“I have a couple doctors in my family but also my grandpa,’’ she said. “When I was growing up he went through a couple of procedures. I saw what he went through and I just want to help people get better. And I don’t think I’m gifted enough to be a surgeon so I went to the next best thing.
Asked what she likes most about her studies, Edmundo responded, “The process. I think I like the process of academics the most. It can be very stressful and overwhelming at times. And this goes for the basketball court too. You know you’re going to put in hours of study day to day, week to week, month to month. But it pays off when you get the A’s or help your team win, basically achieving your goals overall. I think that basically is what motivates me the most.”
Athletically, she says sports were always a primary component in the Edmundo household, having grown up alongside her two older brothers, Carlos and Christopher. “But growing up, being around all of their friends, it felt like 30 to be honest,” she said. “My family has been surrounded by sports before I was even born. My aunt, Marilyn Dawson, she’s in the Hall of Fame at NJIT for three sports. So, I come from a really sports-minded family.”
Both of her brothers played football, basketball, baseball and wrestling, “any sport you can really think of they played,” she said. Carlos went on to become a walk-on basketball player at Hartford University, while Christopher holds a degree from East Stroudsburg University.
Despite having to overcome a broken left thumb and groin pulls in both legs, Edmundo made a remarkably smooth transition from high school to college competition. As a freshman during the 2024-25 season, she was named a four-time New Jersey Athletic Conference Rookie of the Week, and earned the Rutgers-Camden Raptor of the Week honor on one occasion. She also received Honorable Mention at the John K. Adams Tip-Off Classic, held November 15-17 at Rutgers-Newark.
Last season she finished second on the team in scoring (10.6 points per game), assists (55), and steals (38), while easily topping the team in rebounds with 8.7 boards per game.
All told, she scored in double digits in 13 games, had double-digit rebounds in 12 games, and recorded seven double-doubles. A highlight of her freshman campaign included a 19-point, 13-rebound game vs. Rutgers-Newark on November 26, marking her sixth consecutive double-digit scoring game. She also set a career-high 15 rebounds against Ramapo on December 7, a mark she matched against Rutgers-Newark on January 22.
Asked what were some of the motivating factors in choosing to attend Rutgers-Camden she cited the support system in which she would be surrounded.
“Coach Boney (James) made it a point to my family and I that I was going to be safe on campus, and that I was going to have access to resources that to me were very important such as academic support and training support, she said.
“When I visited here I was like, ‘OK, I can work with this. I can see myself growing here, I can see myself living here, I can see me seeking my education here,’” she added. “And of course Rutgers’ academic reputation is very good, especially with my looking to work in the demanding field of medicine”
Her favorite professor in her time at Rutgers-Camden was Dongyuan Ma, who taught her in freshman precalculus. Asked to describe impressions of Edmundo, Professor Ma was more than succinct and straight to the point.
“Smart + Passion + Discipline = Success, that's Courtney's formula in math and in basketball.”
