As Taiwan’s semiprofessional Women’s Super Basketball League (WSBL) begins a new season this month, it will for the first time allow overseas players of ethnic Chinese heritage to compete, the CTBA, the national basketball association, said on Wednesday.
The season opener at the Taipei Gymnasium on Jan. 17 is to pit Taiwan Power against Chunghwa Telecom at 6pm, followed by Taiyuan Textile against Cathay Life, who are hungry for another title after securing their 12th consecutive championship last season.
The four-team WSBL has a regular season of 36 games — played in Taipei and New Taipei City — capped by a playoff schedule that is to begin on May 3.
An amendment to the league’s regulations has allowed teams to recruit players of ethnic Chinese and Taiwanese heritage for this season, the CTBA said.
SOPHIA SONG
Taiyuan Textile have signed Sophia Song — a standout at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) — as the first overseas player of ethnic Chinese heritage to play in the league, it said.
The WSBL hopes that more ethnic-Chinese players will join the league to boost the level of play, it added.
The 23-year-old Song — a 180cm-tall native of Monterey Park, California — averaged 5.6 points and 2.3 rebounds per game as a senior at UC Davis, a NCAA Division I school, while making 31 of 42 shots from beyond the arc.
In 2020, Song graduated from UC Davis with a degree in psychology. She later joined the Manchester Metropolitan Mystics in the Women’s British Basketball League (WBBL), the UK’s top women’s league.
Last season, Song averaged 9.3 points and five rebounds per game in the WBBL Championship.
College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen has become the first female player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after the Golden State Valkyries selected her in the third and final round of the league’s draft on Monday. Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship earlier this month. While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament’s most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year. Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as
College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen (陳凱玲) has become the first player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after being selected by the Golden State Valkyries in the third and final round of the league's draft yesterday. Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship on April 6. While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament's most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year. Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as a
Japan yesterday secured a second consecutive Billie Jean King Cup finals appearance with a 2-1 win over 2023 champions Canada, thanks to Ena Shibahara and Shuko Aoyama’s 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 win over Kayla Cross and Rebecca Marino in the qualifying doubles decider. Shibahara and Aoyama powered through the opening set 6-3, breaking twice for a quick 3-0 lead. Cross and Marino hit back in the second, edging it 7-5 to level the match, before the Japanese pair regained control in the third. Canada’s 18-year-old Victoria Mboko edged Shibahara 6-4, 6-7 (8/10), 7-5 in a marathon opening clash. Mboko fired eight aces to
DAY OF BLOWOUTS: Elsewhere, the Lakers clinched the third seed in the Western Conference with a 140-109 pounding of the under-strength Houston Rockets The Denver Nuggets on Friday improved their playoff position, with a triple double from Nikola Jokic helping them to a 117-109 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. The Serbian put up 26 points, 13 assists and 16 rebounds. The triple-double performance, his 34th this season, ensured that he will finish the regular season as just the third NBA player to average a triple double across an entire season. The win meant the Nuggets improved to 49-32 on the season and gave them a real chance of grabbing fourth place and home-court advantage in the playoffs. Aaron Gordon top scored with 33 points for Denver,
RSS