Oregon Women’s Basketball: Te-Hina Paopao earns World Cup team spot

Oregon women’s basketball freshman point guard Te-Hina Paopao will certainly gain some big-time game experience. She made the 2021 USA Basketball U19 team roster, just one of nine players to secure a spot.

Paopao started the first 19 games for the Oregon Ducks this past season. She averaged better than 10 points per game with four assists and three rebounds. She had 11 double-digit scoring performances in that span, hitting better than 40 percent from the floor. Despite missing the Ducks’ last five games due to an injury, she now has a big opportunity to get some experience and floor time internationally before returning to Oregon for her sophomore season.

On the other end of the floor, Paopao cleaned up in her freshman year with 84 assists and defensively getting 27 steals with more than one multi-steal game in the COVID-19 season that was 2020-21.

Of the nine players named, Paopao is one of seven that played at the college level this past season. There are some new faces to build chemistry with for the 2021 season. With the departure of Erin Boley and Lydia Giomi, several others have also departed via the transfer portal.

Jaz Shelley, Taylor Chavez, and Taylor Mikesell are no longer with the program and head coach Kelly Graves has found several players over the last few weeks in the transfer portal. Taylor Hosendove comes to Eugene from Georgia State. She brings experience in playing 23 games this past season and putting up solid numbers. She averaged 12 points per game, hitting better than 45 percent from the floor and 34 percent from distance.

Graves also added Ahlise Hurst from New Mexico to the roster. She will have two seasons of eligibility remaining with the Ducks. Hurst has scored 44 double-doubles in her career and averaged 12 points and three rebounds per game last season.

Oregon now has 10 scholarship players on the roster, but there still may be room for another to be added in the coming months.