SAN FRANCISCO — The University of San Francisco women's basketball team's backcourt will get deeper next season, as the Dons announced the signing of Sofia Persson, an all-conference point guard out of Odessa (Texas) College and Arvika, Sweden, to a National Letter of Intent Thursday.
 
Sofia Persson | Guard | 5-8 | Arvika, Sweden/Luleå Gymnasieskola/Odessa College
 
Before ever coming to the United States to play college basketball, Persson was already a champion athlete at the club level in her home nation of Sweden. She played her prep years at Luleå Gymnasieskola in Luleå, Sweden, one of the country's elite sports institutes. She was a three-time all-star in the European Girls Basketball League and helped lead her team to a second-place finish in 2018.
 
On the national scene, she was part of a U19 Swedish national championship in 2019 (where she was again named an all-star) and a runner-up finish in 2018. She averaged 9.0 points, 3.8 rebounds 2.2 steals and 1.4 assists per game during that 2019 championship run and was even better the year before with 12.9 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 2.1 apg and 2.1 spg.
 
Persson then brought her game stateside last year, playing a season at junior college powerhouse Odessa College in Texas. She was named the Western Junior College Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year and placed on the all-conference first team. She was part of the Wranglers' runner-up finish in the WJCAC, starting all 32 games in a 23-9 campaign that carried them to the National Junior College Athletic Association District V semifinals. She averaged 9.7 points, 3.3 assists and 2.8 rebounds per contest while shooting 39.3% from 3-point range and 46.1% overall from the floor. Her 3-point percentage and 105 total assists were top-100 marks in the nation.
 
Persson is the second player to join the Dons' recruiting class for the 2020-21 season, after 6-foot, 1-inch forward Jumoke Adaramoye out of Linden Hall School for Girls in Lititz, Pa., signed in the fall. Adaramoye was named one of the top-25 prep basketball players in Pennsylvania by SportsRecruiters.com earlier this month.
 
USF Head Coach Molly Goodenbour on Sofia Persson
 
"We are pleased to sign Sofia. She brings experience, poise and leadership to our point guard position. With the addition of a true point guard we are able to move some of our returners back into their natural positions.
 
"Sofia comes to USF well prepared, as Moa Lundquist did, first from RIG Luleå basketball school in Sweden and then from a strong Odessa College program which she helped lead to an NJCAA Tournament selection this past season. An excellent student, she will add maturity and intelligence to our team and we are excited to start working with her."