It was always assumed that Cleveland State graduate Sara Guerreiro would head back to Europe after finishing college. However, contrary to the expected script, she landed in central Germany, instead of her native Portugal.
The former Viking has signed with BC Pharmaserv Marburg for the 2025-26 season, in the top division of the country’s Damen-Basketball-Bundesligen (DBBL), the team announced on Monday.
“I’m looking forward to playing for BC Pharmaserv Marburg and joining a club that has a strong team culture,” Guerreiro said in a translated version of the Blue Dolphins’ release. “I worked with coach José Araújo in the national team and have great respect for his commitment to mutual success. I bring energy, versatility and a fighting attitude. I’m ready to give everything to help the team achieve its goals and to contribute on both sides of the pitch.”
Guerreiro certainly brought those things to her three-year run with the Vikings, following two seasons at South Florida.
In 2024-25, she closed out her college career with selections to the Horizon League’s all-conference third team and all-defensive team, thanks to numbers like her 6.7 defensive rebounds per game (of her team-high 8.0 total rebounds), good for 39th best nationally. Guerreiro also led Cleveland State in assists (4.1 per game) and free throw shooting (87.8 percent), while her 11.4 points per game ranked fourth.
None of those numbers, however, truly capture her value as an emotional leader with a rare amount of positional versatility, and as a model student-athlete.
At the very least, it could certainly be argued that her arrival prior to the 2022-23 season was a final component CSU needed to become a championship program. Her tough, all-around game helped take the Vikings to their third-ever conference tournament title that season, a success that was followed by a regular season crown in 2023-24, and a trip to the WNIT’s Fab 4 last year.
Alongside Jordana Reisma, Mickayla Perdue, and Destiny Leo, Guerreiro started each contest of what became a 37-game season through the WNIT run. Given the latter’s 33.8 minutes per game, it can certainly be said that she finished most of them too.
That’s not all Guerreiro finished; the two-time member of the HL’s all-academic team collected a pair of mechanical engineering degrees during her time in Northeast Ohio.
Now, she’ll reunite with Marburg head coach Araújo, who – as Guerreiro mentioned – mentored his newest signee during one of her several forays into competition with the Portuguese national team, the 2021 FIBA U20 European Challengers.
“[Sara] is a real worker and very good at defense,” Araújo said. “She can play in positions 2 and 3. She is young, comes from college and will fit in well with our team. She brings a lot of energy to the field and is strong in rebounding.”
The Blue Dolphins were 7-15 in DBBL play last year, and will try to improve from that ninth-place finish with a significantly rebooted roster. In addition to Guerreiro, Araújo recently signed graduated Wyoming star Allyson Fertig (coincidentally, a teammate of former Viking Grace Ellis on the Cowgirls from 2021-23), as well as Michigan alumna Greta Kampschroeder.
Among the team’s seven returning players are two more former U.S. college hoopers, Hailey Leidel (UMass), and Caitlyn Jones (Idaho), who combined for about 30 of Marburg’s 71 points per game a year ago.
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