SAN FRANCISCO – The University of San Francisco women's basketball coach
Molly Goodenbour announced the signing of Marta Galic, Marija Galic, Marianna Klavina, Abby Rathbun and Kia Vaalavirta to national letters of intent. The newcomers are set to enroll at USF for the 2018-19 year.
A preview of each of our newest Dons are below. Get to know each of the athletes in their player profiles, set to be released week by week over the coming month.
Of the five signees, four are coming from overseas. This will boost an already international-heavy roster that includes representation from Australia, Sweden, Slovakia, Canada, Finland, and Denmark.
In the group, the Dons will gain three guards (Marta Galic, Klavina, Vaalavirta) and two forwards (Marija and Rathbun).
The two Galic sisters, Marta and Marija, are twins from Croatia. Both compete on the Croatian national team. The duo are three-time Croatian Junior League Champions. They were also members of rosters who were runner-ups of the Croatian Senior League, Ružica Meglaj-Rimac Cup and U-16 Regional League. Marija also won a U-18 European Championship in 2016.
Vaalavirta comes to USF all the way from Finland. She will join fellow Finnish Don
Ninni Salmi. She has represented Finland on the national teams starting at the age of 15. While playing for her country, Vaalavirta has won two championships, a silver and bronze medal. In each the gold medal matches, she was named MVP.
Klavina joins the Dons as combo guard. The native of Latvia started for her country in the the FIBA U18 Women's European Championships this past summer where she averaged 7.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists. She is a starter for her club team, TTT Riga Juniores, and the second leading scorer.
Rathbun is USF's only homegrown signee, hailing from Washington. She captained teams at Moses Lake High School that were two-time state semi-finalists, three-time state quarterfinalists, and three-time district champs. In addition to her team accomplishments, as a senior Rathbun was named to the all-conference first team and awarded the all-conference defensive player of the year title as a senior.
As stated, each new Don will receive a more in-depth player profile featuring statistical analysis, fun facts, and thoughts from Coach Goodenbour. Look out for those starting next week.
Continue to visit our website and USF Dons women's basketball social channels for the most up-to-date news and information.
Meanwhile, basketball is back on the Hilltop!
The ladies open the 2017-18 campaign this Friday, Nov. 3 against Cal Poly. Tip is set for 6 p.m. The women will open the doubleheader with the men taking on Long Beach State immediately afterwards. A general admission ticket to the women's game will grant you access to the men's game as well. As always, students and faculty with an ID, and children under the age of 12 are admitted for free.
Tickets can be found
here.
