Several former America East women's basketball standouts are playing on international levels, both for national teams and for professional squads abroad.
A pair of guards are currently on the national team rosters for their home countries. Rachael Vanderwal, a 2006 Boston University graduate, made Great Britain's Senior National squad this past summer and competed at the EuroBasket 2011 qualifiers, which wrapped up late last month. Vanderwal came off the bench to average 1.0 ppg and 1.0 spg in five of six contests. Great Britain won Group D to qualify for the Final Round of EuroBasket 2011. The tournament will wrap up in Poland June 18-July 3, 2011. Also, as host of the 2012 Olympics, Great Britain will automatically qualify for the Games.
Prior to playing with the British, Vanderwal competed in Ireland's SuperLeague with the UL Basketball Club, earning the league's scoring title with 22.2 points per game.
Courtnay Pilypaitis, a former Player of the Year out of University of Vermont, is competing for Team Canada during the FIBA World Championship for Women in the Czech Republic. Pilypaitis trained with the Canadians over the summer and was one of 12 players selected to compete in Europe this fall.
Team Canada will compete in Group A at the upcoming World Championships. After tuneups in France and Greece, the Maple Leafs will begin preliminary round play against Australia, ranked third in the world by FIBA, on September 23.
After FIBA competition, Pilypaitis has also signed on to play professionally in Europe, one of three all-America East players currently doing so. The 6-1 Vermont guard will play for the Lithuanian team VICI Aistes Kaunas, which competes both within Lithuania in the LMKL league, as well as across the continent in the EuroLeague. Play begins in late October and will conclude in May.
In Greece, two former America East foes will become teammates this fall. After both participating on U.S. soil in WNBA training camps for different teams last spring, Vermont guard May Kotsopoulos and Hartford forward Diana Delva will both play for the DAS Ano Liosa team of the Greek A1 league. Play begins this month and will run through April. Kotsopoulos led America East in scoring last season with 17.1 ppg and was the 2008 Defensive Player of the Year. Delva was the 2010 America East Player of the Year after a stellar senior year with 14.4 ppg and 8.0 rpg.