Former UT
women’s basketball standout Melissa Goodall will continue her European career as
she signed with CusCagliari Basket
of the Serie A
league Tuesday, a team based out of Cagliari, Sardinia.
After she graduated following the 2010-11 season, Goodall spent
last year playing professionally in Spain.
“I originally accepted an offer with a team based in Milan, but
then that team ended up deciding to pull out of the league this year. Luckily,
another team in the Italian League was able to offer me and it was pretty much
the same deal I was accepting with the Milan team.”
Goodall said she went about a week and a half
between contract offers. Her agency has at least one other player that will be
accompanying her to her new squad.
Last season, Goodall played for Uni-Tenerife of
the Spanish Second Division Professional Basketball League on a one-year deal.
They are based out of Santa Cruz in the Canary Islands.
“It was a lot of fun,” Goodall said. “I really enjoyed my team and
the experience that I got from it. To be able to continue to play basketball at
a pretty competitive level was a lot of fun and definitely worth my time.”
In addition to being able to play basketball, the former All-Mid-American Conference
selection said she enjoyed living in the Canary Islands. Leaving her life in
the States behind to start a brand new one in Europe was not as difficult as it
might seem.
“Actually, it was a pretty easy decision for me,” Goodall said.
“Once my senior year completed itself and saw it end on a pretty good note, at
that point, I didn’t want to stop playing.”
Goodall said that head coach Tricia Cullop first
presented the idea to her prior to her final season at UT. Cullop and
her agents, who have ties to many teams overseas, sat down with Melissa and
told him she would likely have an opportunity to play.
“She said that if I continued to have the success that I had the
previous years, there would be no problem and I should be able to do it. Once
she said that, I was like, ‘alright, why not?’”
The former Rocket is taking her pro basketball career one year at
a time and doesn’t want to commit to anything for an extended period of time.
She said that after her positive experience in Spain, she knew she wanted to
continue to play, regardless of location.
“I considered a couple teams in Germany earlier in the summer,” Goodall said.
“They were good offers, but they weren’t exactly what I wanted at the time, so
we decided to wait a little bit longer to see what came along.”
Goodall got in touch with a few people from
her new Italian team via Facebook and was able to find out some information
about the squad. Her agents also had prior relationships with the club.
During her time at Toledo, Goodall finished tied for first in games
played (131), fourth in blocks (83) and 16th in scoring (1,131).
In her senior season, she averaged 12.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and
1.1 blocks, playing a large part in UT’s WNITchampionship.
Despite relocating, Melissa had maintained relationships with her
UT coaches and teammates. She traveled toNaama Shafir’s hometown in Isreal with
the team last summer and has played pickup games when she’s been around Toledo.
“I’m still really good friends with almost all the girls on the
team,” Goodall said.
“Coach Cullop is
a stellar coach and her relationship with you doesn’t end when you graduate.
“Would I be willing to come back and play at Toledo again? I
totally would. If that was option, I’d be back out there, for sure.”
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