Former Iowa women's basketball star Lucy Olsen signs with WNBL's Townsville Fire
After seldom seeing the floor so far for the Washington Mystics in her first WNBA season, former Iowa women's basketball star Lucy Olsen announced her exciting offseason plans Tuesday evening.
Olsen, who was selected with the No. 23 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA draft, has been serving as a depth player off the bench for Washington, where she occasionally contributes scoring outbursts. That included Olsen's 19-point performance against the Minnesota Lynx on July 3.
With the Mystics' 2025 campaign still ongoing, Olsen made her offseason plans official Tuesday evening when it was announced that the former Hawkeye would be playing for the Townsville Fire in Australia's Women's National Basketball League (WNBL).
Given the financial incentives and opportunities to continue competing, it is commonplace for many WNBA players to play overseas or in another domestic league, such as Unrivaled, during the offseason.
As Olsen joins the WNBL, she will have an excellent opportunity to develop and showcase her skills while contributing to a Fire squad that made it to the league championship last season.
"We're really excited to add Lucy to our team. She's a skilled, versatile guard who can score at all three levels and has excellent vision to create for others.
'What really stood out to me was her character. Everyone I spoke to had nothing but great things to say about her work ethic and the kind of teammate she is. Lucy ticks a lot of boxes for us on and off the floor, and I know she will come in ready to work hard and contribute to our team's success," Fire head coach Shannan Seebobm said of Olsen.
Given the new offseason opportunity, Olsen fully embraced the challenge by stating that Townsville's love for the game of basketball perfectly matches her own.
'The Fire organisation has a tremendous reputation here in the US and hearing how beautiful the Townsville area is has me more than excited to be joining this upcoming season! I love to play basketball and it sounds like Townsville loves basketball too – a perfect match! Let's go get the Championship," Olsen said in her statement.
With fellow Mystics teammate Jade Melbourne also signed as a member of the University of Canberra (UC) Capitals, Olsen playfully joked that the two may have become "Frenemies" heading into the WNBL's 2025-26 season.
@jade_melbourne does this mean we're frenemies now😒🤣 https://t.co/82uRVOzGx6
So far in her 19 games played for the Mystics, Olsen is averaging 3.7 points and 1.1 rebounds per game on 43.9% shooting from the floor, 40.0% from 3-point territory, and 90.9% from the free-throw line in 10:30 of playing time per contest.
Townsville opens its 2025-26 season on Oct. 19 against the Bendigo Spirit. Ironically, the Fire's second game, scheduled on Oct. 25, will be in Canberra's AIS Arena against Melbourne and the UC Capitals.
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