Serena Jade Sundell (born August 29, 2003) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player who is currently a free agent. She played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the

Kansas State Wildcats The Kansas State Wildcats (variously "Kansas State", "K-State", or "KSU") are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Kansas State University. The School colors, official color of the teams is Royal Purple; white and silver are gener ...

. She was selected 26th overall by the

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team was founded by Gi ...

in the

2025 WNBA draft The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)'s draft for the 2025 WNBA season, 2025 season was held following the 2024–25 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. It marked the first draft for the newest expansion team for the league, ...

High school career

Sundell played basketball for Maryville High School in her hometown of

Maryville, Missouri Maryville is a city and county seat of Nodaway County, Missouri, Nodaway County, Missouri, United States. Located in the "Missouri Point" region, As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population was 10,633. Maryville is home ...

. As a senior, she was named Miss Show-Me Basketball as the top player in Missouri. She left as the program's all-time leading scorer, with 2,358 points. In addition to basketball, Sundell was an all-state player and Class 3 state champion in

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

, and was a state runner-up in the

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

. During her junior year, she committed to play

for

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public inst ...

College career

As a freshman at Kansas State, Sundell averaged 10.6 points, 5.3 assists, and 3.4 rebounds per game. She earned All-

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

honorable mention and was unanimously named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team. On March 1, 2023, she scored a career-high 33 points in a 90–86 overtime loss to AP No. 16

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

. In her sophomore season, Sundell averaged 13.9 points, 5.1 assists, and 4.8 rebounds per game, receiving All-Big 12 honorable mention. As a junior, she averaged 12.1 points, 5.6 assists, and 3.9 rebounds per game, earning first-team All-Big 12 honors. On February 5, 2025, Sundell scored a senior season-high 27 points in a 59–50 win over AP No. 9

TCU TCU may stand for: Education * Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania * Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas ** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school * Tok ...

. On February 22, she set a program single-game record with 15 assists in a 90–60 victory over

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

. At the end of the regular season, Sundell was named first-team All-Big 12 and made the AP

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

honorable mention. In the second round of the 2025 NCAA tournament, she surpassed Shalee Lehning to become Kansas State's all-time leader in assists, recording 19 points and 14 assists in an 80–79 overtime win over No. 4 seed

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. Sundell led the team to its first Sweet 16 since

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

. In her senior season, she averaged 14.1 points, a nation-best 7.3 assists, and 4.4 rebounds per game.

Professional career

On April 14, 2025, Sundell was drafted in the third round, 26th overall, by the

in the

. On May 12, she was waived by the Storm.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 33 , , 32.3 , , 36.4 , , 35.3 , , 82.0 , , 3.4 , , 5.3 , , 1.0 , , .7 , , 2.9 , , 10.6 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 36 , , 36 , , 33.4 , , 48.9 , , 25.3 , , 80.1 , , 4.8 , , 5.1 , , 1.9 , , .7 , , 3.4 , , 13.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , style="text-align:left;",

, 34 , , 34 , , 32.6 , , 53.6 , , 39.8 , , 60.2 , , 3.9 , , 5.6 , , 1.2 , , .7 , , 3.2 , , 12.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2024–25 , style="text-align:left;",

, 36 , , 36 , , 33.2 , , 50.1 , , 32.0 , , 78.7 , , 4.4 , , bgcolor=#cfecec, 7.3* , , 1.1 , , .9 , , 2.9 , , 14.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 139 , , 139 , , 32.9 , , 47.4 , , 33.5 , , 76.3 , , 4.2 , , 5.8 , , 1.3 , , .7 , , 3.1 , , 12.7

Personal life

Sundell's older brother,

Jalen Jalen is both a surname and given name. The given name, as well as variants like Jaylen and Jaylin, rose in popularity in the 1990s due to the success of basketball player Jalen Rose (named for his father James and uncle Leonard). Notable people wi ...

, is an

offensive tackle Offensive may refer to: * Offensive (military), type of military operation * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Fighting words, spoken words which would have a tendency to cause acts of violence by the ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

and played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for

North Dakota State North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota, United States. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural Colle ...

. Her father, Bob, played basketball and competed in the

at Northwest Missouri State and was inducted into the Hall of Fame for both his school and conference. Sundell's mother, Korena, played basketball for Missouri S&T.

References

External links

Kansas State Wildcats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sundell, Serena 2003 births Living people American women's basketball players Basketball players from Missouri Guards (basketball) Kansas State Wildcats women's basketball players People from Maryville, Missouri Seattle Storm draft picks