Stanford Women's Basketball Stars to Take Part in WNBA Tour

The Stanford Cardinal have a tremendous opportunity on their hands. After a tough season, the Cardinal saw a majority of the players on their roster enter the transfer portal looking for new opportunities, forcing the Cardinal to scramble to put together a viable team for 2026-27.

But for the players that still remain, they will need to really step up and prove that they have what it takes to fill the void of the departed talent.

Earlier this week, two players from the program got an opportunity that could escalate their development and help them be the players that the Cardinal need them to be heading into next season.

Shay Ijiwoye and Nora Ezike were named to the Nigerian National Team roster for a three game set against WNBA teams ahead of their regular season. Set to face the Los Angeles Sparks, Minnesota Lynx and Indiana Fever, Ezike and Ijiwoye will get the chance to face top notch talent and see how they stack up.

Former Cardinal Cameron Brink and Lexie Hull are members of the Sparks and Fever, which will add another piece of Stanford to these games.

For these two current Cards, this is a great chance to continue to develop and help improve a significantly depleted roster while getting a chance to play against some of the top women in the world.

*The following is a press release sent out by Stanford University*

STANFORD, Calif. – Shay Ijiwoye and Nora Ezike have been named to Nigeria’s roster for its upcoming WNBA preseason tour against the Los Angeles Sparks, Minnesota Lynx and Indiana Fever.

The pair will be in San Diego for camp from April 18-24 before Nigeria plays the Sparks on Saturday, April 25 at noon PT at Viejas Arena on the campus of San Diego State. Games will follow against the Lynx on Monday, April 27 at 7 p.m. CT/5 p.m. PT at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City and on Saturday, May 2 at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT against the Indiana Fever at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Ijiwoye appeared in 32 games for Stanford as a sophomore last season, averaging 2.7 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 15.6 minutes per game, while Ezike played in nine games off the bench as a freshman.

Ezike made her international debut for Nigeria at the FIBA U19 World Cup in Brno, Czechia last summer and led the team in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 12.1 points and 7.0 rebounds in seven games.

She started the group phase with 25 points on 8-of-8 shooting in 21 minutes against China and finished with three consecutive double-digit scoring efforts in classification games against Argentina (17), Korea (18) and China (12).

Ijiwoye represented Nigeria as part of the World Select Team at the 25th Nike Hoop Summit in 2024.