Arkansas women’s hoops adds more international flavor with Malta’s Galea

BY DUDLEY E. DAWSON

FAYETTEVILLE – Arkansas women’s basketball head coach Mike Neighbors continued to add to his team’s international flavor on Wednesday.

Danika Galea, a 6-3 center from Malta, committed to the Razorbacks and becomes the fifth international player from five different countries added to the Arkansas roster in the last two years.

The others are Spain native and current Arkansas sophomore Cristina Sanchez Cerqueira as well as 2024 signees in Finland 6-1 forward Pinja Paananen, 5-9 guard Phoenix Stotijn of Haarlem, Netherlands and Lago, Nigeria native and former Barton County College 6-4 freshman forward Vera Ojenuwa.

The Razorbacks also added Arkansas Stare guard Izzy Higbottom, former Batesville standout that averaged 22.8 points per game last season – a figure that made her the NCAA’s eighth-leading scorer.

Galea averaged 28 points and 19 rebounds in five games while being named the MVP of the Under 18 European Division C Championships in 2023.

She recorded a double-double in all five games, including an 18-point, 10-rebound effort in Malta’s first championship in the event since 2007.

Galea was 8 of 11 from the field as Malta, an isolated island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, downed Albania 56-47 in the title game.

Photo courtesy of Razorbacks Communications