Bella Murekatete (born 4 July 2000) is a Rwandan

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

player for the

Washington State Cougars The Washington State Cougars (known informally as the Cougs) are the 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 program co ...

and the Rwanda national team. She is believed to be the first Rwandan-born player in

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

women's basketball history. She was named the 2022

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

co-Most Improved Player of the Year after averaging 10.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game.

Early years

Murekatete grew up playing

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and

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 ...

in her native Rwanda before discovering basketball. She moved to

Post Falls, Idaho Post Falls is a city in Kootenai County, Idaho, between Coeur d'Alene and Spokane, Washington. It is a suburb of Coeur d'Alene, to the east, and a bedroom community to Spokane, to the west. The population was 38,485 at the time of the 2020 cens ...

on an

F-1 visa In the United States, the F visas are a type of non- immigrant student visa that allows foreigners to pursue education (academic studies and/or language training programs) in the United States. F-1 students must maintain a full course of study. F- ...

at the age of 14 to play the sport at Genesis Prep Academy. Murekatete was a three-time first-team all-state selection. She also played with North Idaho Elite on the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has ...

(AAU) circuit. In November 2018, Murekatete signed a letter of intent to play at

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

National team career

Murekatete represented

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

at the

2015 FIBA Africa Under-16 Championship for Women The 2015 FIBA Africa Under-16 Championship for Women was the 4th FIBA Africa Under-16 Championship for Women, FIBA Africa U16 Championship for Women, played under the rules of FIBA, the world governing body for basketball, and the FIBA Africa ther ...

, where she averaged 14.3 points and a tournament-best 22 rebounds per game and earned all-tournament honors. She notably recorded 24 points and 37 rebounds in a loss to

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

. Murekatete represented

at the 2018 FIBA U18 Women's African Championship, where she averaged 16.8 points, 13.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game and earned all-tournament honors after leading her team to a fourth-place finish. Murekatete made her debut with the senior national team in a

2023 Women's Afrobasket The 2023 AfroBasket Women was the 28th edition of the tournament and held from 28 July to 5 August 2023 in Kigali, Rwanda. Nigeria won their fourth consecutive and sixth overall title after defeating Senegal in the final. Format The 12 teams wer ...

qualifier.

References

External links

Washington State Cougars bio

FIBA profile

Bella Murekatete
at AfroBasket.com Living people 2000 births Rwandan basketball players APR B.C. players Washington State Cougars women's basketball players Rwandan expatriate sportspeople in the United States {{Rwanda-basketball-bio-stub