FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Fairfield University Women's Basketball graduate student Izabela Nicoletti Leite will join Team Brazil as the national team will play a pair of games against WNBA teams the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever in early May. This will be Nicoletti Leite's second appearance for her native country after helping the squad to a silver medal in the South American Women's Championships over the summer.
 
"This opportunity is incredibly meaningful to me," Nicoletti Leite said. "I'm thrilled to compete against the best players in a sold-out environment and face off against athletes I idolized growing up. With my college basketball career behind me, I'm excited to continue playing the game I love while representing my country."
 
"Iza deserves this opportunity more than anyone I know to play on the biggest stage with the best players in the game," Head Coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis said. "Her journey has not always been linear and has experienced adversity along the way, but the true measure of her character shows in how she has continued to work and show up in the face of injuries and setbacks with a smile on her face the entire time.  She has been a relentless worker, a fierce competitor, and a great teammate and leader as a member of our Stag family, and I can't wait to watch her continue her basketball story with the Brazilian National team against two incredible WNBA teams.  I will be there front and center to cheer her on!"
 
Nicoletti Leite was the veteran presence on a Fairfield team who successfully defended their MAAC Championship and celebrated the program's first-ever back-to-back MAAC titles. She led the MAAC and finished fourth in the country with a 3.28 assist-turnover ratio while also finishing in the top-30 in the country in assists per game (5.1).
 
She dished out 168 assists, the eighth-most in a single season in program history. In just three full years as a Stag, she recorded 368 helpers, ranking 13th in program history.
 
She also represented Brazil in the South American Women's Championship, helping the team to a silver medal. In the six games of the tournament, Nicoletti-Leite averaged 9.7 points per game with 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists.
 
Brazil will travel to LSU to face off against Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky on May 2 and then travel to face Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever in Iowa City on May 4. Brazil is using the games to start the training cycle for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games and as preparation for the FIBA Women's Americup this summer in Chile.