Matilde Villa (born 9 December 2004) is an Italian

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 for

Umana Reyer Venezia S.S.P. Reyer Venezia Mestre, commonly known as Reyer Venezia or simply Reyer, is an Italian professional basketball club that is based in Venice, Veneto. The club currently plays in the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA), the Italian basketball league sys ...

of the Lega Basket Femminile. She was drafted by the

Atlanta Dream The Atlanta Dream are an American professional basketball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Dream compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded for the ...

of the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. The league comprises 13 teams (scheduled to expand to 15 in 2026). The WNBA is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The WNBA w ...

(WNBA) with the 32nd pick in the 2024 WNBA draft.

Professional career

At age 14, she debuted in Serie A1 with the Costa Masnaga sports club first team in the position of point guard. In 2020, she scored 36 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists in a match against Dinamo Sassari. Her Serie A record is 20 wins and 3 losses. Villa has played for

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

since 2022. In the 2023–2024 season, she led the Italian Serie A with a per-game average of 10

points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

, 2.6

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

, and 3 assists. She had a 52% shot rate from two points, 36% from three, and 78% from the free throw line. She was selected in the third round, 32nd overall, by the

in the 2024 WNBA draft. She was the fourth Italian player to be selected in the WNBA, and joined fellow Italian Lorela Cubaj on the team. Villa remained overseas for the 2024 WNBA season.

International career

At the FIBA U20 Women's European Championship in 2023, Villa was named a stand-out player by

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French language, French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the Basketball equipment ...

. She accumulated an average of 18.9 points per game, 6.7 rebounds per game, 4.9 assists per game, and 2.6 steals per game.

Personal life

Matilde was born in Lissone, Carate Brianza,

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

. Her older brother Edoardo and her twin sister Elonora are both basketball players, with Eleonora currently playing in the NCAA with the

Washington State Cougars The Washington State Cougars (known informally as the Cougs) are the sport, athletic teams that represent Washington State University. Located in Pullman, Washington, WSU is a member of the Pac-12 Conference in NCAA Division I. The athletic pr ...

. Her and her sister Eleonora wanted to be professional dancers growing up, but were discouraged by her dance teacher and advised to change to basketball.

References

External links

Matilde Villa – FIBA

Matilde Villa – ESPN
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Villa, Matilde Reyer Venezia players 2004 births Living people Italian basketball players Guards (basketball) Atlanta Dream draft picks Sportspeople from Lombardy Italian expatriate baseball people in the United States 21st-century Italian sportswomen People from Lissone