For the third year in a row, there will be a women’s game at the Nike Hoop Summit in Portland with the 2025 game being played on Saturday, April 12th. Last year, the World team built a lead, but the United States roared back to win the game and if the organizers can put together a strong roster for this international group, another competitive game could be played. USA Basketball has already announced the United States team so we will focus on players who we would want to see in the World team jersey.
2025 Draft-Eligible Players
The event itself makes age rules for their teams and they had a player who was WNBA Draft-eligible in the year of the game in 2023. We have a separate article covering international players who could be selected in the upcoming draft and any of them would be a great addition to the game, even though most are unlikely to be available. There are a couple of players who will be specifically highlighted here since they played in the last edition of this game. Ajsa Sivka, a gifted Slovenian forward, was not busy with club commitments last season, but now plays big minutes for Tarbes Gespe Bigorre in France. Annika Soltau had signed with Washington, but opted for a professional career instead of college and has made an interesting move by going to Baden in the relatively weaker Swiss league after limited minutes with Gernika in the Spanish League. She will be 20 at the time of the game though, which historically misses the cutoff as they tend to focus on age rather than birth year in deciding on who can play in a given year.
Returnees
Most of the players on last year’s roster have headed to college already so they will not be available again. Two players on last year’s roster remain in high school though and figure to be in consideration for this event again. Ukrainian wing Daria Biriuk is finishing up her last season at The Webb School in Tennessee and has signed with Ohio State. Olivia Vukosa, who has chosen to represent Croatia, could still play two more times in this event as the highly touted center was brought in last time during her sophomore year at historic New York powerhouse Christ the King.
Last Year’s Wishlist
We also created a wishlist last season that still has some players who are still selectable for this event and would be great to see even though they will probably be very busy with their club teams at the time of the game. Spanish guard Iyana Martin has made a big step up to the top division with traditional powerhouse Avenida and has had a great season with them. Another Spaniard will also be a top prospect for the 2026 WNBA Draft as center Awa Fam has gotten more playing time this season on loan from Valencia to Gernika. Blanca Quinonez, the Ecuadorian forward playing for Magnolia Campobasso in Italy, has committed to Connecticut, which removes her from the list of 2026 draft prospects now, but she could be in the middle of playoff preparations during this event. As always, the presence of Washington D.C.-born Lithuanian guard Juste Jocyte would be welcome, but she has a big role for Lyon in France.
New Players
Younger players are often invited as was the case with Olivia Vukosa, who was born in 2008, but we will focus on players who were born in 2006 and 2007 as well as incoming college players for this list. While there have been Americans who have represented their other nationality to play on the World team, we will only include any who have actually represented that country in some capacity in the past, like in FIBA events.
Planning to Play in College:
Agot Makeer, SG, Canada, Montverde Academy (FL)
The player at the center of a long-running recruiting between some of the top programs in the country, a few of them are still waiting for Makeer’s decision that could have an impact on next season. She had her first global exposure last summer after plenty of hype and was the leading scorer in Canada’s run to the silver medal in the U17 World Cup, but she will certainly want another crack at the United States early instead of having to wait for the U19 World Cup. While Canada’s top high schools have a track record of development for top players and there is crossover with the basketball ecosystem in the United States, she opted to head to Montverde for her final year.
Denia Prawl, SF, Canada, IMG Academy (FL), Tennessee signee
Canada has been a key source of players for the World team at this event and after two-time participants made their way to colleges, it is time for a new wave of players that Prawl could headline. She showed clear improvement over the past few summers as Canada recognized her talent early and she also decided to finish her high school career in Florida. She is headed to Tennessee where she figures to fit in perfectly with their new system on the wing.
Lara Somfai, PF, Australia, IMG Academy (FL), Stanford signee
The latest coup so far in a new era of Stanford recruiting, Somfai took the unusual step of moving to the United States to finish her high school career instead of finishing her time at the Centre of Excellence that has helped an enormous proportion of Australia’s best players develop. For those who do not follow high school basketball, her path has left only glimpses of what she can do during national team play. She seems to be on track to provide everything that you would want to see from a modern power forward and will be a top target for this squad.
Bonnie Deas, SG, Australia, Sydney Flames, Arkansas signee
A few young players have been leaned on for more minutes that might have been expected early in the national league season and Deas has provided scoring several times when the team has needed her to play more. In addition to joining Sydney for this season, she announced Arkansas as her college destination. Her busy time before then is likely to also include Australia’s bid to bounce back from their worst ever world stage performance at the U19 level after helping them put together a good run at the Asia U18 level.
Lena Bilic, SF, Croatia, Tresnjevka, UCLA signee
Recruiting top international players has been a part of UCLA’s rise and Bilic is part of their next class. Tresnjevka has been one of the top clubs in Croatia and part of their success has been giving the best young players in the country plenty of playing time to showcase them for a college scholarship or a professional opportunity elsewhere in Europe. Bilic is their star this season, helping them be more competitive in their return to the Adriatic league for the first time since the pandemic. In the club season, she has primarily demonstrated her scoring and rebounding ability, but her youth national team work has allowed her to show some playmaking that will help her play in either forward spot going forward.
Gandy Malou-Mamel, C, Ireland, Gill St. Bernard’s (NJ), Connecticut signee
This event is for more than showcasing the best players or having the most competitive game as there has always been a focus in trying to add some players from countries that have not been traditional basketball powerhouses. Basketball has gotten stronger in Ireland, especially on the women’s side, but the local league is still heavily tied to the university system and is not fully professional. As a result, Malou-Mamel headed to the United States to finish high school and ultimately sign with Connecticut to start her college career. While there is still plenty to learn as she plays at a higher level, her tools, especially on the defensive end, are apparent. Since she is now residing in the United States, continuing to do so through the WNBA draft date would remove her from being selectable this year as an international.
Bailey Flavell, SG, New Zealand, Northern Kahu, Hawaii signee
Australia has plenty of history in competing at the highest level in women’s basketball, but the work that New Zealand has done recently is also noteworthy. The merger between Oceania and Asia for global qualifying has given their youth teams a more realistic path to the World Cups. A true league was finally established and then they accepted a calendar change to increase their media deal. That meant more chances for top prospects like Flavell to practice with and play against better players at home. While she only played a few minutes at the first team level, the league also implemented 16 minutes games before each main game for the teams’ bench players to get more playing time and she benefitted from being able to play against good players in that format. Hawaii has often used their closer location to Oceania to sign some of the better players from there and Flavell joins that group having had a fantastic youth national team career and then playing in one tournament with the senior national team.
Meredith Venner, PF, Colombia, Academy of Central Florida (FL), Pittsburgh commit
Brazil has tended to be the top place in South America for prospects and more of them have headed to the United States for high school, but the country that has made great strides recently is Colombia. Venner first made a splash at the international level with their U17 team in 2023 and then had two games for her club team Antioquia to win the first ever Americas-wide tournament. While those were good experiences, it made sense for her to spend more of the year playing against other players her age at the high school level in the United States. She heads to Pitt for college having also made her senior national team debut over the summer and will look to continue to develop the ability to play either forward position. With the difficulties of logistics for this event, the organizers will definitely be interested in players who are already in the country for school in addition to those playing club basketball around the world.
Born in 2006, No Known College Plans
Saffron Shiels, SF, Australia, Townsville Fire
More Australian players have been opting for the college route in recent years due to the difficulties involved in stepping up from the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence to one of the roster spots in the national league. Shiels has made that leap impressively for one of the top teams in recent years and is now planning to stay there until her WNBA draft year. With her height, she is often asked to play more of a frontcourt role, but the long-term goal is for her to play as a taller guard and she has demonstrated some of the playmaking that should allow her to do that. In a very deep next international draft class, the likelihood of fewer obstacles for her to play in the WNBA should make her a secure choice from that group.
Monique Bobongie, SG, Australia, Canberra Capitals
One of the nice breakout stories of the national league season, Canberra’s struggles have not taken away from Bobongie’s strong debut in the competition, providing valuable minutes and some early scoring prowess. She went through the national training program and has been a big contributor at the youth national team level as well for Australia, but it is not clear yet what her next destination might be after proving herself in many places.
Nell Angloma, SG, France, Lattes Montpellier
The top French youngsters are historically involved in the federal training center, which fields a team in the second division to give those players minutes against teams filled with older players who are stronger than them, also laying the ground work for youth national team play. Angloma finished her third season with that team and then joined Lattes Montpellier for her first top division opportunity. She has gotten more minutes on the wing as the season has progressed, including plenty of time as they have advanced against weaker teams in EuroCup, putting her among a deep group of prospects expected to be in next year’s WNBA draft class.
Tea Cleante, PG, France, Lyon-Villeurbanne
The depth of French talent has been apparent in recent WNBA drafts and after their national team performance while hosting the Olympics. Cleante is probably the highest regarded prospect in this birth year for them and she opted to join Lyon after her time in the national training program. She has played a solid number of minutes for them so far and is growing into the backup point guard role as they hope to be their strongest at the end of the season. Player availability is always an issue for those who are already getting first team minutes, but she would certainly be high on the wishlist for this event.
Stella Colas, PG, France, C’Chartres
Different first team opportunities provide different challenges and different benefits to young players looking to break through. Being part of a talented backcourt at the federal center meant plenty of tough minutes against older players for Colas and then she chose an even tougher task when she joined a Chartres team that had won promotion to the top division and will be fighting all season long to stay at that level. She has risen to the challenge in many ways and shown that she can help at either guard position, demonstrating that she can play at this level in the long run even if the team cannot avoid last place.
Born in 2007, No Known College Plans
Zhang Ziyu, C, China, Shandong
One of the big stories of the basketball summer was certainly Zhang’s time with China’s U18 team as she could be the tallest WNBA player ever soon. While there are certainly struggles with mobility as she gets more accustomed to playing at a higher level, it is difficult to deny how hard she has worked to fully gain an offensive advantage over her opponents. If she was playing in almost any other country, she would have gotten plenty of time to play at the highest level nationally, but she has been brought along slowly and her games at the youth level have had to be searched out by curious fans. While she is expected to play at the U19 world level, it would be great to get an early look at what she can do around the other top players her age at an event like this.
Jessie-May Hall, PG, Australia, Hornsby Ku-ring-Gai Spiders
One of the most-hyped guard prospects in recent years in Australia, this would be a great first global stage for Hall to shine on as it is not clear when she might next play against players her age from around the world. Her camp has not always quietly gone along with the plans that the country’s basketball infrastructure has had at any given time. She played the last state league season with a struggling Hornsby team and helped them during a surprise winning streak with her scoring prowess and by being a terror on defense.
Ainhoa Risacher, SG, France, Lyon-Villeurbanne
It would certainly be historic for there to be a Hoop Summit sibling duo and Risacher would be looking to follow her brother Zaccharie in more ways than one after he was the first selection in the NBA draft. Ainhoa has certainly made a name for herself on the youth level, including an excellent game against the United States at the U17 level, and she has come through the youth academy at Lyon. Budget cuts and player availability issues at Lyon have given her even more opportunities this season and she has turned in some excellent performances, especially in EuroCup when they have rested their best players as much as possible.
Jovana Popovic, PG, Serbia, Mega
Mega has been a reliable source of players for the men’s side of the event as the team founder, one of the most prominent agents in Europe, built the club to showcase his young clients in order to collect the NBA buyouts or transfer fees from other teams. The player market in women’s basketball does not function in the same way, but this squad was the surprise champion in Serbia last season. Older players moving on has meant that the team is not having the same level of success, but Popovic has not slowed down, putting up impressive numbers after a big summer.
Maja Uranker, SG, Slovenia, Celje
Celje has been the dominant team in Slovenia while giving young players opportunities to impress and move on to stronger league elsewhere in Europe. Uranker has been given the chance to play bigger minutes this season and showcase what she does best when it comes to scoring and she has done well with added responsibility, leaving plenty of time to demonstrate what else she can do in the coming years. Her strong summer included keeping Slovenia in the top division at the U18 level for the future.
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