Sanjana Ramesh, from Bangalore, has signed a National Letter of Intent with North Arizona University.
She along with Emily Rodabaugh, from Lynnwood, Wash., are two incoming freshmen for the 2019-20 season for the Lumberjacks' women's division. The duo are the "two impact players", the team's coach Loree Payne believes could be the university's best choices given they had two scholarships to offer.
With plenty of achievements to show for in the girls' division of Indian Basketball, Sanjana had certainly earned her way to this scholarship. She is now only the second Indian-born female player to receive a Division I Basketball Scholarship.
Sanjana Ramesh, MVP of #NBAAcademy India Women’s Camp, is making India proud by becoming the second Indian-born player to play at NCAA D-1 basketball! pic.twitter.com/PCkmE5bP0V
— NBAIndia (@NBAIndia) November 15, 2018
Sanjana's first claim to fame was when she captained India's U16 Girls squad to an undefeated campaign in Division B of the FIBA U16 Asia Cup, earning the nation a promotion to Division A in the tournament's next edition. She averaged 6.5 points and 7.0 rebounds in the tournament before going on to play for the nation's senior squad in the 2018 William Jones Cup in Taiwan.
"Sanjana is an athlete who has international and national experience in India," Payne said. "We're trying to get our foot in the door in the international recruiting scene and for us, Sanjana is everything we're looking for. She's a joyful kid and very thankful for the opportunity to come here and she's going to be a heck of a player. Her potential is limitless."
Growing from strength to strength, Sanjana also participated in The NBA Academies Women's Program camp in May at The NBA Academy India in Delhi National Capital Region (NCR). In the NBA Academics Women's camp, she received on and off-court training alongside other worthy female prospects throughout the nation.
Following that, in the Basketball Without Borders Asia camp, a three-day basketball development camp featuring the top male and female basketball prospects from throughout Asia, Sanjana was named MVP of the girls' division.
