NATIONAl women’s basketball team captain Alexandra Maseko is making waves in United States, rising to become the star player for her college basketball team, the Pirates.
Report by Henry Mhara Sports Reporter
The former Under-20 team captain on Wednesday inspired her team to an 82-35 win over University of New Orleans in the College league.
Reports from the US show that the Seton Hall University Political Science student sparked the offence, netting the first four points of the game for the Pirates while fellow teammate Deidre Simmons finished a three-point play to make the score 9-0 just 3:32secs into the action.
Maseko went on to finish the game with eight points, seven rebounds and a career-high six steals.
Appearing in 71 games over her four-year career and starting at forward in all nine games so far this season, Maseko is averaging 6,3 points and 5,2 rebounds per game while shooting a team-best 46% from the floor.
She recorded the first double-double of her career with 11 points and 10 rebounds against South Dakota earlier this season, and is averaging career-best number of points per game, rebounds per game and shooting percentage.
Off the court, things have also just been falling in place for the former Arundel School student.
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She was earlier this month selected as a finalist for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University.
Maseko met with the Rhodes selection committee in Harare last Tuesday for the chance to be selected as one of two recipients of the scholarship from Zimbabwe.
“It has been a great journey. I had to go through a lengthy application process, write multiple essays and it was challenging to compete alongside my school work and basketball, but it has been fun,” Maseko said.
“I am happy to have had the chance to apply. Everyone here at Seton Hall has been really supportive of me, from the coaching staff to academic services as well. They really want me to get it, so I hope I make them proud.”
Maseko captained the national Under-20 women’s basketball team at the 2007 All-Africa Games and was part of the Zimbabwe team at the games in Mozambique last year. In 2006, she was named the Most Improved Player in the Mashonaland Basketball Association league while playing for Varsity Leopards. She captained Arundel School the following year.
