For a segment of this offseason, it seemed that Cleveland State’s roster was set to lose just about all its notable international flavor. After all, Sara Guerreiro (Portugal) and Grace Ellis (Australia) graduated, while Filippa Goula (Greece) and Jannah Eissa (Egypt) are headed elsewhere through the transfer portal.
Those fears turned out to be unfounded, given that CSU quickly reloaded with the likes of Ayisse Magassa (France), Hanna Medina Kajevic (Sweden), and Izabella Zingaro (Canada).
Enter the latest, according to On3’s Talia Goodman: Spain’s Paula Piqué, a 6-1 transfer wing who just completed her freshman season at Abilene Christian.
Specifically, Piqué is from Sant Andreu de Llavaneres, a town about 25 miles up the Mediterranean coast from Barcelona. There was undoubtedly quite an adjustment moving from just outside of a major world city to a place like Abilene, TX, though her twin sister Emma chose a similar level of culture shock when she began her career at Northwest College, a juco in Wyoming.
Regardless, the results show that Paula did a decent job of handling it.
She didn’t play a ton for the Wildcats in any objective sense, though her 8.1 minutes per game still represented a pretty solid look for a true freshman (for context, Sarah Hurley logged 7.7 as a rookie this past season, while Jordana Reisma’s 2022-23 campaign was the last time a Cleveland State freshman bested the 8.1 number).
Piqué’s best game, coincidentally, came against one of Chris Kielsmeier’s former employers, Division III school Howard Payne, on December 17th. In 18 minutes, she threw in a career-high 11 points, while adding two rebounds and a pair of steals. On February 13th, six points and three rebounds in 25 minutes at Seattle represented her best work against DI competition.
Those efforts, and others, contributed to an ACU team that went 22-13 overall and advanced to the Super 16 round of the WNIT, before losing to eventual semifinalist Illinois State.
As a junior club player in Spain, primarily with Bàsquet Femení Sant Adrià (FSA), Piqué enjoyed an extremely successful run, including the Catalonian championship at the U17 level. As a U18, she placed second in Catalonia and eighth nationally.
She also drew raves from her coaches, including Jordi Perez.
“Paula is a very versatile wing who can score from long range and attack the basket thanks to her length and quick first step,” Perez told ACU when Piqué signed with the Wildcats. “She’s able to create for her teammates, finish in the paint through contact and convert when she is put to the free throw line.”
“She is also a committed player on the defensive end with her hustle and intensity. Her experience gained playing on both her current teams is invaluable and will help with her transition to the NCAA level. Paula is a great role model and teammate and a valuable addition to any team.”
Perhaps just as importantly as any of that, the newest Viking represents a potential developmental piece in a program that has precious few of them right now. Though CSU has obviously done extremely well to rebuild its roster in the aftermath of nine transfer departures, the team’s fate in 2025-26 will overwhelmingly rest on the shoulders of players near the end of their college careers.
In fact, Piqué is the first of the now-eight incoming transfers with more than two years remaining (though Magassa could join that group once the ever-shifting eligibility rules around former juco players are finally settled).
There are a couple others on the list of possible long-term players, of course, including Hurley, and incoming freshman Kajevic. In all, Cleveland State’s projected roster is up to 12 players and, thanks to the recent additions of Jenna Bolstad and Carolyn Wochele, the Vikings’ staff is fully replenished as well.
