Big signing for WBB

[Brad]

USF ATHLETICS GoUSFBulls.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DATE: MAY 10, 2018

 

 

 

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Women’s Basketball Signs Five-Star Luize Septe

Septe rated a five-star prospect by Passion Hoops and Blue Star Europe, played for Latvian national team

TAMPA, MAY 10, 2018 – USF women’s basketball head coach Jose Fernandez announced the addition of another five-star recruit to the Bulls’ 2018 signing class with the signing of 5-11 wing Luize Septe.

A native of Ventspils, Latvia, Septe has extensive experience playing in international competition and was tabbed a five-star prospect by both Passion Hoops and Blue Star Europe. She played for the under-18 Latvian national team in the 2017 European Championship, where she averaged eight points, five rebounds, and two assists per game. Septe also played for the under-19 Latvian team at the World Cup last summer. Additionally, Septe was selected as one of 20 players to try out for the Latvia senior national team, which is the same team that current USF standout Kitija Laksa helped to qualify for the FIBA Basketball World Cup in September.

“Luize brings a tremendous skill set and great international experience and we are very excited to welcome her to USF,” Fernandez said. “She comes out of the same club team as Kitija Laksa and has shown the ability to play at a high level while competing with the Latvian national teams. She will be a great fit in our program.”

While in Latvia, Septe also started at wing for the club team TTT Riga, which is the same club Laksa played for before coming to Tampa. With TTT Riga, Septe averaged 10.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, and two assists per game while shooting 41.8 percent from the floor and adding 1.8 steals per game. The team recently earned a bronze medal in its league.

Septe is the newest member of the Bulls’ 2018 signing class that now numbers five. She joins other late period signees in 5-10 combo guard Sydni Harvey (Nashville, Tenn.), 5-11 shooting guard Makaela Kestner (Bealton, Va.), 5-8 point guard Elisa Pinzan (Murano, Italy) as well as 6-foot wing Iris Tsafara (Athens, Greece), who signed in the early period.

Pinzan was also rated a five-star recruit by both Blue Star Europe and Passion Hoops and has international experience, playing for team Italy in the under-18 European Championships and the under-19 World Cup. She averaged eight points, two assists, 2.9 rebounds and two steals per game in the European Championships.

Harvey is rated as the No. 28 player at her position in the nation according to ESPN and is the all-time leading scorer in her high school’s history.

Kestner holds the Faquier County (Va.) scoring record for boys or girls, scoring more than 1,500 points in her high school career.

Tsafara played for the under-18 Ikaros Kallitheas club team in Greece, where she led her team to a second-place finish in the National A2 Division.

About USF Women's Basketball
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[vwlbull]

How does CJF do this?  Bravo!

[Cornada]

SWEET Septe!

[JTrue]

5 hours ago, vwlbull said:

How does CJF do this?  Bravo!

You snag a couple international players and you get the reputation as a guy who knows who to take care of players and help them make the adjustment to life and basketball in America. Next thing you know, kids from Europe that are looking to play here see that your foreign born players are succeeding and they go where they know they're going to be taken care of. I'm sure these girls are reaching out to other foreign USF players online to ask them about CJF and obviously he's being well spoke of. It's a fantastic strategy since there's no way we're getting native 5 stars. I love it.

[Brad]

6 hours ago, vwlbull said:

How does CJF do this?  Bravo!

A passport and a lot of frequent flyer miles for starters.  

[charsibb]

1 hour ago, JTrue said:

You snag a couple international players and you get the reputation as a guy who knows who to take care of players and help them make the adjustment to life and basketball in America. Next thing you know, kids from Europe that are looking to play here see that your foreign born players are succeeding and they go where they know they're going to be taken care of. I'm sure these girls are reaching out to other foreign USF players online to ask them about CJF and obviously he's being well spoke of. It's a fantastic strategy since there's no way we're getting native 5 stars. I love it.

 

[lotsofbull99]

Can she identify as male and help MBB?

[CousinRicky]

11 hours ago, JTrue said:

You snag a couple international players and you get the reputation as a guy who knows who to take care of players and help them make the adjustment to life and basketball in America. Next thing you know, kids from Europe that are looking to play here see that your foreign born players are succeeding and they go where they know they're going to be taken care of. I'm sure these girls are reaching out to other foreign USF players online to ask them about CJF and obviously he's being well spoke of. It's a fantastic strategy since there's no way we're getting native 5 stars. I love it.

He has told me that they try to hit a lot of tournaments when traveling overseas, or if they are playing in the US, to identify recruits when they are young and then keep an eye of them. An assistant told me that a lot of highlight tapes come in without being contacted.  So reputation definitely helps them.  At one practice this year the Denmark team that Jespersen played on was watching practice and believe they attended a game.

[Roaming Bull]

Big? She’s only 5’11’’

[The Sheriff]

There's good high school basketball in Virginia. I'll be curious to see how Kestner pans out. She has good size for a shooting guard... and she's obviously filling the hoop on a regular basis.