Alumni News

[3397char]

Maria Gakdeng is on a heater for South Sudan as they are on a Cinderella run at FIBA’s African championships!

Quarterfinal win over Egypt: 19 pts(8 of 15), 24 rbs (!), 2 blk​

Semifinal win over Uganda:12 pts (6 of 8), 13 rbs, 2 blk​

​

Story here:

Uganda vs South Sudan - Quarter-Finals - FIBA Women's AfroBasket 2025 | FIBA Basketball

Uganda vs South Sudan - Browse boxscore, game information & live stats, team rosters, photos and video highlights

www.fiba.basketball

check out her press conference here:


her FIBA profile here:

Maria Teresa Gakdeng - South Sudan - Player Profile - FIBA Women's AfroBasket 2025 | FIBA Basketball

All detailed statistics, points, assists and rebounds of Gakdeng - South Sudan from FIBA Women's AfroBasket 2025

www.fiba.basketball

they play again vs Mozambique in the semis at 8AM today (Friday 8/1)

looks like you can watch the tourney and replays for 5 bucks here:

Courtside 1891 - Basketball Live Streams and Highlights

Stream live and on-demand basketball from around the world, including Spain's Liga Endesa, Basketball Champions League, Australia's NBL and more. Check the latest scores and schedules and watch today with Courtside 1891!

www.courtside1891.basketball

 

[3397char]

Maria Teresa Gakdeng - South Sudan - Player Profile - FIBA Women's AfroBasket 2025 | FIBA Basketball

All detailed statistics, points, assists and rebounds of Gakdeng - South Sudan from FIBA Women's AfroBasket 2025

www.fiba.basketball

South Sudan wins bronze in the FIBA Afrobasket championship, a tourney where they had never won a game Before this year.

and Gakdeng is the leading rebounder in the tourney and 2nd most important player on her team, a team she seems to have joined for the first time 2 weeks ago.

so cool

 

[3397char]

Maria also lead the tourney in blocks and blocks per game!

 

[3397char]

Wrapping up the Maria story, here is an article on Maria's journey posted on the Goheels site https://goheels.com/news/2025/8/6/w...eng-showing-up-on-world-stage-for-south-sudan

 

[3397char]

Littlefield gets married at Princeton:

 

[Jriv23]

Thanks for sharing and posting. From the side her husband looks a little bit like Larry Bird. He looks to be pretty tall too. Congratulations to the both of them.

 

[AlWoodfor2]

Thanks for sharing and posting. From the side her husband looks a little bit like Larry Bird. He looks to be pretty tall too. Congratulations to the both of them.

I can see what you’re talking about there.

 

[3397char]

Ustby logs 20 pts, 13 Rbs, 4 stls in her pro debut.

 

[3397char]

 

[Jriv23]

Thanks for sharing and the updates for our Pro Heels.

 

[tarboy]

Go Lexi, AU and Maria !

 

[3397char]

Must be Halloween in Italy too...

 

[3397char]

Ustby MVP of the league title match.

 

[6string]

I understood “MVP” and that was it. Of course that’s all that matters.

 

[Nate1972]

𝟤𝟨 𝘱𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪 𝘦 𝟣𝟤 𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘻𝘪

 

[KenbudUNC]

Alyssa is leading the league in scoring. Madison Hayes (NC State) is the second leading scorer

 

[Mtns2Sea]

𝟤𝟨 𝘱𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪 𝘦 𝟣𝟤 𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘻𝘪

Show off!!!

 

[3397char]

I understood “MVP” and that was it. Of course that’s all that matters.

Translation:
"The MVP of the game is Alyssa Ustby. .

With a double-double of 26 points and 12 rebounds, Alyssa Ustby earned the Panthers MVP title in the match against Battipaglia."

Here league stats and rank:
Points
19.6 #1
Rebounds
9.0 #3
assists
1.6 #41
Steals
1.8 #12

Pretty high in turnovers at 3 per game.

 

[3397char]

Donarski’s team in Hungary is doing pretty well: 7-4, they appear to be really balanced

TFSE-MTK Budapest Basketball Games

TFSE-MTK Budapest basketball, scores, news, schedule, roster, players, stats, rumors, details and more on eurobasket.com

basketball.eurobasket.com

 

[tarboy]

Glad our women are doing well. I miss seeing them in Carolina Blue but I am glad they are great representatives of our University.

 

[3397char]

 

[FanaticHeel]

LEADER

 

[1stGenerationHeel]

Anyone know how well these ladies are paid playing overseas?

 

[Jriv23]

It depends on what level / division/ league/ and country they are playing in. Russia pays their players very well. I remember D.T got paid 1 million when she played for their top league. I know a lot of WNBA players play for the top leagues in the off season and they get paid a lot. Russia is just one that I can think of they paid them at least 6 figures a season. I think the league that our players are playing would probably be in the middle and low high tier. Australia pays very well too.

 

[3397char]

they get paid a lot less than you may think. Those 6-figure salaries are for clear WNBA level players, and the 500K{ are onlyy the top 5-10 WNBA All-stars.

Here is an example of a player who is just barely above`Donarski and Ustby, but at the same time clearly better:

Chelsea Hopkins went undrafted in 2013, despite receiving honorable All-America recognition and helping San Diego State win a school-record 27 games. That September, the 5-foot-8 guard saw action in four WNBA contests — all in a nine-day span — with the San Antonio Silver Stars. Upon the W season’s conclusion, she joined Bnot Herzliya in Israel. She made $2,700 a month.

Hopkins has now played professionally in Israel for a decade. Having won the Israeli league MVP in 2017 and a league championship in 2018, she says her salary peaked at around $12,000 a month — a low five-figure monthly contract is “pretty standard for a WNBA-like player at this point in time,” she adds.

from this article:

What do WNBA players make overseas? Not as much as you’ve heard

Can the WNBA find new ways to keep players home in the offseason instead of going abroad, where players' salaries have taken a recent hit?

www.nytimes.com

so I would be surprised if our recent grads are making more than $50K season As rookies.

 

[Jriv23]

You forget 3397 their room and board expenses, eating expenses are paid for; therefore, they can bank up their money that they make. I had a son who played overseas and he told me so. As I stated before it depends on what country they are playing for. My son told me this who played overseas. Also, He has friends playing over there now both male and female.

 

[uman1]

LEADER

Future coach maybe.

 

[3397char]

Doing the little things: Ustby creates all 4 of these wide open shots.



She leads her team and league in points (18.7, top scorer in Italy Serie A1), FG%, rebounds (9.6, 2nd in Serie A1), steals (1.7) and 2nd in assists (3.3) and blocks (5th in Serie A1).

The team (Panthers Roseto) however is not doing great: 5-9 makes them 8th out of 11 teams. They have her playing the 2 & 3 and her 3pt shooting is not doing well.

 

[3397char]

Gakdeng had a 32 point game on 14 of 16 shooting for her team TARR KSC Szekszárd


Szekszárd is 13-4 in their conference, good for 4th place, and they are 3-3 in Euro Cup which is kind of like a concurrent Premier League.

Gakdeng is averaging 13.4 PPG and 8.2 RPG with a pretty eye popping 69% on FGs

 

[6string]

14 of 16 shooting! I’m my mind I can see those twisting, up and under shots right now. Go MG.

 

[kjcooper]

Some believe, and state certain thoughts about CB as a coach, but most will have to admit that MG and Ustby improved during there tenue at Carolina. Still believe that most of the young players on this team will continue to improve over the course of their career at UNC. Just have to be patience is my belief.

 

[tarboy]

Exactly KJ was very true for Utsby, Maria and Lexi. See Ciera and Indya and others improving now. Injuries have hurt some players
but that is uncontrollable. I think next season we have her greatest team.

 

[3397char]

no idea how to confirm this is legit, buyer beware...Hodgson is selling some of her gear

 

[Jriv23]

Wow, Does anyone know the reason why she would want to sell her gear? This is a surprise. Most student athletes try to hold on to their gear after playing sports.

 

[3397char]

Usually they simply have too much. over the course of a career they can fill a closet.

 

[3397char]

 

[Jriv23]

Way to go AU. Congratulations.

 

[tarboy]

We needed you today Alyssa !

 

[Jriv23]

AU time is up. She graduated. I am sure a lot of teams and fans would say the same thing about having players who have graduated to come back and play. AU played for five years. The bottom line is very simple. Louisville players just wanted it more than our players. You cannot teach heart, effort, desire. That has come from each player playing. Hats off to Louisville.

 

[Nate1972]

𝖠𝗅𝗒𝗌𝗌𝖺 “𝖳𝗁𝖾 𝖧𝗎𝗋𝗋𝗂𝖼𝖺𝗇𝖾” 𝖴𝗌𝗍𝖻𝗒!