On the night in which the WNBA, the women’s version of the NBA, staged in Brooklyn the 2024 DraftItalian women’s basketball has emerged again thanks to Matilde Villa, 20 years old on November 9th, now playmaker for Reyer Venezia.
If Caitlin Clark, the new “America’s sweetheart” and global basketball phenomenon, was chosen as expected with the number 1, ending up at the Indiana Fever, the girl from Brianza was selected in the third round by the Atlanta Dream with the 32nd overall call. It is the culmination of a growth based on a crystalline talent, which also led her to wear the national team jersey and to be one of the references of the present and future of our pink basketball.
Matilde is Eleonora’s twin (she plays guard and compared to her sister she is considered shyer in character): «Ele» preceded her in the USA because last summer she signed for Washington State University and, in addition to studying, plays with the Cougars in the NCAA championship. Born in Lissone, they both started in the Premier League, then played at Costa Masnaga. Their paths will not coincide again, but they will have America as a common place. And if in Eleonora’s life there is also study, aimed at a degree, Matilde now has the mission of reviving the not inconsiderable tradition of Italians in the Wnba.
The fourth Italian ever chosen in the Draft
First of all she is the fourth selected in a draft after Catarina Pollini (1997), Kathrin Ress (2007) and Lorela Cubaj (2022). Then there was the case of other players, such as Cecilia Zandalasini (now a star of the national team), selected in the past in the expansion draft. Overall, before Venice’s point guard, there were eight of our players who were signed in the “pro” league, including those who had not passed through the Draft: Catarina Pollini, chosen in 1997 by the Houston Comets; Susanna Bonfiglio (Phoenix 2002); Laura «Chicca» Macchi and Raffaella Masciadri (Los Angeles Sparks, 2004); Francesca Zara (Seattle Storm 2005); Kathrin Ress, who ended up at the Minnesota Lynx in 2007 (the same team as Zandalasini), Lorela Cubaj, signed in 2022 by the New York Liberty. Pollini in 1997 and Zandalasini in 2017 also won the title.
Villa, a predestined: at 14 years old in Serie A
Matilde Villa in Georgia
he will meet up with Lorela Cubaj, who joined the Atlanta Dream after being his teammate in Venice. The Wnba championship will start on May 14th, but before her Matilde will have to concentrate on the championship playoffs with her Reyer, dominating so far in Serie A with 20 wins and 3 defeats. The nineteen year old from Brianza is definitely predestined. Introduced to basketball together with her sister following the example of her brother Edoardo, she started at 6 years old and at 14 she made her debut in Serie A with Costa Masnaga. She finished her first year with an average of 8.4 points per game and with a maximum of 21. In the following season she even scored 36 against Sassari, a preamble to a growth that twelve months later led her to become the best scorer of the A series.
Faced with a performance like this, the national team couldn’t help but draft her. Said and done: onset at 16 years, 10 months and 31 dayswith an important contribution to the qualification for Eurobasket 2023. If now the dream of professionalism comes true – among other things in a team whose name, not even on purpose, is called Dream – it is also because Matilde and her sister were dissuaded from continuing with the dance. They said in an interview five years ago: «We remember very well the face of the dance teacher who, in the third lesson, advised our parents to let us change sports. For us it was the end of the desire to become dancers.” Better so for basketball, which she saw the basketball twins blossom: «When at nine years old we understood that dance wasn’t for us, we took up basketball, seeing as our older brother was already playing. This time they didn’t chase us away…”
