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Mya Hollingshed suffered a career disappointment shortly after leaving Colorado. But she will soon have the opportunity to compete on a big stage.
One of the all-time greats in Colorado’s women’s basketball program, Hollingshed will represent Puerto Rico at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022, which kicks off Wednesday and runs through October 1 in Australia.
Hollingshed is one of 12 players in the Puerto Rican roster and will open the game against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday (6:20 p.m. MT, ESPN+). The Puerto Rico Basketball Federation received approval to naturalize Hollingshed, a native of Houston, Texas, in July.
Hollingshed was drafted eighth overall in the 2022 WNBA Draft by the Las Vegas Aces, but was waived before the start of the season. Hollingshed was the first CU player selected in the first round of the WNBA Draft.
“This is a historic event for the national women’s program,” Puerto Rico women’s national team coach Jerry Batista said when Hollingshed was naturalized. “For a long time we have been looking to nationalize a player who will help us continue to climb and progress as a program, and have important pieces to face the best teams in the world… The work of Yum Ramos and all the program staff pays off by approving the nationalization of Mya (Hollingshed).
Hollingshed ended her career as the Buff in 2022, taking full advantage of her extra year of eligibility to leave Boulder as the program’s sixth all-time leading scorer (1,681 points). Hollingshed was a two-time All-Pac-12 selection and also earned back-to-back WBCA All-America honorable mentions.
“She’s a WNBA level player, with plenty of offensive resources,” Batista added in the same July statement. “She has always been very interested in playing for Puerto Rico, she has seen the development of the program and is very excited to be able to represent our country. She is a young player who can give us many years of good basketball.
Puerto Rico is in Group A and will face Team USA, Belgium, China and Korea. Four teams from Group A and Group B will qualify for the quarter-finals. A draw will determine the quarter-final pairings. The two highest ranked teams from each group (Group A and Group B) will be drawn against the two third and fourth ranked teams from the other group.
All World Cup matches will be available on ESPN+.
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