Paula Piqué has been an early-season surprise for Cleveland State, as the Abilene Christian transfer has locked down a regular starting assignment and proven to be the sort of multidimensional two-way player that the Vikings covet. She also provided what’s inarguably the team’s biggest moment of the young season, a pair of late threes that helped complete a comeback win at Cal State Fullerton two weeks ago.
With that in mind, it makes a lot of sense that CSU would seek to add a second such player: Piqué’s twin sister, Emma. The program announced the latter’s addition for the 2026-27 campaign last Thursday, during the fall signing period.
Obviously, Emma and Paula share most biographical details, from their upbringing near Barcelona, Spain, to roster spots on the same junior club teams, primarily including Bàsquet Femení Sant Adrià (FSA). The duo won the Catalonian state championship as U17s, then placed second, and eighth nationally, as U18s.
However their paths diverged at that point. While Paula spent the 2024-25 season at ACU, Emma headed to Northwest College, a juco in Wyoming, some 90 minutes from Yellowstone National Park.
The 5-11 guard/wing made an immediate impact for the Trappers, earning a starting role and posting a pretty familiar stat line as a freshman: 9.0 points per game, alongside 3.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.7 steals. NWC went a respectable 17-14 overall, eventually losing to Eastern Wyoming in double overtime of the first round of the NJCAA Region 9 tournament.
“She’s really long and athletic,” Northwest College head coach Cody Helenbolt told the Powell (WY) Tribune last year. “The thing that I’m excited for her is that she is one of the fastest kids with the ball that I think I’ve ever seen and she just has tremendous potential.”
This season, so far, has gone even better. The Trappers are off to a 7-3 start, and Piqué has been right at the center of things. Her 14.6 points per game include a monster 25-point effort on 8-for-11 shooting against Dawson Community College on November 6th – three days before Paula’s heroics at Fullerton. Emma has also swiped at least four steals five different times this year, showing the sort of elite defensive instincts that have contributed to her sister’s quick acclaim.
While it’s pretty heavily flawed to make assumptions about future rosters in the present landscape of college athletics, Emma’s signing does offer at least some indication that Paula has taken well to the City of Cleveland and the Vikings program, and plans to be around to play with Emma next season.
That would be welcome news for Chris Kielsmeier, who will once again face some substantial rebuilding work in 2026, given that his current squad is disproportionately in its final year of eligibility.
Part of that process, of course, includes Addison Carr, a 6-6 center from Missouri who committed to the Vikings in September, then made things official by signing last week. Current team members Queen Ruffin, Jada Leonard, Hanna Medina Kajevic, Sarah Hurley, Sur Lozano, Macey Fegan and, in all likelihood, Shay Magassa should also have eligibility beyond this season.
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