Banham went to Lakeville North High School in Lakeville, Minnesota and graduated in 2011. She started on the varsity basketball team as an 8th grade student. During her senior year, she averaged 17.8 points per game, 5.3 rebounds, and four assists. With these numbers she led her squad to a 29–3 record and a conference championship.
After graduating from high school, Banham continued her education and basketball career at the University of Minnesota. Banham started all 36 games her freshman year, and was named Freshman All American First Team and Big Ten Freshman of the Year. During her freshman year, (2011-2012) she averaged 16.1 points per game which ranked her 97th in the nation. Her sophomore year (2012-2013) she was averaged 20.7 points per game which was good enough for second-leading sophomore scorer in NCAA division 1. As a Junior (2013-2014) she averaged 22.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game. At the start of her senior season (2014-2015) Banham had only played 10 games before she suffered a season ending ACL injury. Before she had torn her ACL she was on ESPN's top 5 players to watch in the upcoming season. She later received a medical hardship waiver so she could play in the 2015–2016 season. When she returned to the court in the 2015–2016 season for her senior year she had an outstanding season. She was named Big Ten Player of the Year and was a John R. Wooden Award finalist. Despite her time off because of her injury, Banham came back to become the Gophers all-time leading scorer and tied an NCAA record with a 60-point game against Northwestern. Banham ended her college career on a high note, becoming the sixth-leading scorer in NCAA Division I women's history and the Big Ten Conference's all-time scoring leader at the end of her college career with 3,093 points. (As of the end of the 2017–18 season, she is now eighth on the career scoring list, having since been surpassed by Washington's Kelsey Plum (2013–17), now the D-I all-time scoring leader, and new Big Ten career scoring leader Kelsey Mitchell of Ohio State (2015–18).) Banham's senior year was not only one of the most memorable seasons in Gopher basketball history, but NCAA basketball history as well.
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