Colorado State University Athletics
CSU Women's Basketball Signs Lena Svanholm to NLI
11/16/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - The Colorado State women's basketball team has signed Lena Svanholm to a national letter of intent, head coach Ryun Williams announced on Wednesday.
Svanholm joins the Rams with four years of international experience, and will be eligible to compete for the Rams beginning in the 2017-18 season. The 6'6" wing competed as a member of Denmark's U18, U16 and U15 teams.
"It's not every day that you sign a 6'6", versatile wing," Williams said. "It's just something that we've never had here. We are super excited to have Lena join our basketball program. She's an outstanding young lady and an outstanding basketball player with a lot of basketball experience. Her experience on the Danish National Team will really help her be ready when she arrives on campus. We expect her to have an outstanding career as a CSU Ram."
Svanholm continues CSU's pipeline of talented players from the country of Denmark, following in the footsteps of current sophomore Sofie Tryggedsson, 2014-15 Mountain West Player of the Year Gritt Ryder and recent CSU standout Emilie Hesseldal.
Among her most impressive stretches of international play was the 2016 FIBA U18 Women's European Championship, in which she averaged 19.9 points and 10.9 rebounds over seven games. Svanholm posted double-doubles in four of seven games, highlighted by a 27-point, 19-rebound performance against Bulgaria.
She needed only 16 minutes to record her top scoring performance, a 33-point offensive burst against Albania. Against Albania, Svanholm shot 12-of-15 from the floor and went 9-for-10 from the free throw line en route to a 95-31 Denmark victory.
Svanholm averaged 13.6 points and 6.4 rebounds per game for Denmark's U18 team in 2015, and scored 13.6 points with 8.2 rebounds per game for the U16 team in 2014. Over those three years, Svanholm scored 20 or more points six times in international competition.
Svanholm is set to join CSU after choosing the Rams from a field of over 25 different offers.
