Wednesday Astera Tuhina of Pristina, Kosovo officially signed with the Ducks, a floor leader and ball handler with international experience and deep range from three.
Her father is a coach back in Kosovo. When Tuhina was just 13 he sent her to Spain to play basketball and finish high school, competing for Deportivo Promete in the Spanish Elite League. Each summer she played throughout Europe with her country's national team, a starter on the U20 squad at 16.
At the FIBA U-20 Women's European Challenge in North Macedonia Tuhina dished out six or more assists in all three games, putting up 10 points and nine assists in a win over Romania, 10 rebounds against Slovakia.
She comes to the Ducks as a transfer from Washington State, where she played three seasons and majored in computer science, a pass-first point guard who fills up the stat sheet in a variety of ways.
In her freshman year the team became the first WSU team to win a title in the PAC-12 since 2002 Coug football. The seventh-seeded "Once you make a couple, you keep shooting.," she said in the press room.
In 2024 she averaged 7.8 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists for the Cougars. A year ago she hit 43% from three. On March 9th at the WCC conference tournament she scored a season-high 18 points with four rebounds and six assists, 6-13 from the floor and 3-6 from three.
"Once you make a couple, you keep shooting.," she said in the press room.
She becomes the second international player to join Kelly Graves' squad this week after 6-2 forward Mia Jacobs from Perth Australia, a transfer from Fresno State.
In a statement, Graves said
“Astera has tremendous instincts and basketball IQ. Her creativity, toughness and grittiness will fit in perfectly with our team, and her relentlessness and passion are second to none. She’s a pass-first point guard but she’s not afraid to step back and knock down the three. Her energy is contagious, and I think our fans will love how she plays the game. Astera should make an immediate impact on our roster.”
After playing all over the world and putting in three years on the Palouse, running the Oregon offense will be easy. She put up a career-high 24 points against the Ducks in February last year.