Samuelsons: Karlie ('17) EuroCup POW; Bonnie ('15) Focusing on Studies

Karlie Samuelson (2017) shoots her way to Top Performer status after downtown deluge

Karlie Samuelson has been awarded EuroCup Top Performer honors for last week after lighting it up from long distance in spectacular fashion for Perfumerias Avenida.  The Great Britain national team competitor and WNBA player showed her devastating offensive capabilities as Avenida soared past Olivais FC by 106-45. Samuelson went off and finished 12-of-14 from the field including 8-of-10 from beyond the perimeter. As well as 33 points, she also had 6 boards, 3 assists and 3 steals.

Season highlights

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Bonnie Samuelson (2015), SCCO, ’20: Keeping Her Eye on the Ball and Her Studies  by Pam Martineau, NBKU

When she is not throwing 3 pointers on the basketball court, Bonnie Samuelson is hitting the books and treating patients as she pursues her dream of becoming an optometrist

Raised in a Basketball Family

Raised in Huntington Beach, Samuelson is the eldest of three sisters, all of whom were raised to excel at basketball by their basketball-playing parents. Both parents played ball professionally, but it was Bonnie’s father who regularly took his daughters to the basketball court to teach them to shoot, dribble and shoot again.  “My dad would take us every day to shoot,” says Samuelson. “He said if you want to get good at basketball, you have to practice.”

His tutelage paid off. Bonnie would go on to play basketball all four years at Stanford University as an undergraduate, where she specialized in three-pointers. Her middle sister plays professional basketball in Belgium and her younger sister plays in the WNBA.

Shadowed an Optometrist

As an undergraduate at Stanford, Bonnie was interested in going into a medical profession, because she “really wanted to help people.” She wasn’t sure, however, which medical profession to pursue. She shadowed various medical practitioners and was drawn to optometry after watching an optometrist interact with his patients. “He seemed to have a blast working with patients,” she says. “It seemed like something I wanted to do.”

Samuelson fell in love with SCCO (Southern California College of Optometry) after visiting the campus. Being a “Southern California girl” also helped her make her choice, she adds. “The school was beautiful,” she says, adding that professors, staff and students are “so welcoming.”

In her free time, Samuelson loves reading, or going to the movies or beach with her boyfriend, also an SCCO student. She also loves walking her two black Labrador retrievers, Molly and Lucy. And she offers a word of advice to new students at SCCO. “It’s going to be hard work, but so worth it,” she says.

J.J. Hones (2010), Morgan Clyburn (2009), Karlie S. (2017) updates

    J.J.Hones (B.A. 2010, Masters 2011)
Jennifer (J.J.) Hones has rejoined Milestone in Portland, Oregon as the Western Region Key Account Manager. She was at Milestone from 2010-2015, then moved to Vicon as National Distribution Manager and National Account Manager, and on to Dahua as Enterprise Business Development Manager. In her new Milestone role, she assists partners in the management and growth of principal end user accounts, establishing Milestone in A&E firms focused on Fortune 500 companies and strategic vertical markets, and key community partner relationships. Jennifer is a graduate of Stanford University with a BA in International Relations and an MA in Sociology. She was a starting guard for the Stanford women’s basketball team, playing in two NCAA national title games. Her competitiveness, experience, organization, and the relationships she has within the organization and industry are a winning combination!

 JJ also serves as the 2019 Webmaster and Security Liaison for ASIS International - Columbia River Chapter.   ASIS International is the world's largest membership organization for security management professionals.


Morgan Clyburn (2009)
Morgan Clyburn is now a Managing Partner at MD Ignite, headquartered in the Minneapolis area.
MD Ignite is a Minneapolis, MN-based healthcare firm. They discover and bring to market novel healthcare technologies with a specialization in Funding, Technology & Development, Business Development & Strategy, and Marketing & Commercialization. MD Ignite partners with an extensive network of individual contributors with medical device expertise in regulatory, quality, reimbursement, legal, intellectual property, technology and engineering.

Morgan Clyburn holds a B.S. in biomechanical engineering from Stanford and an MBA from Kellogg focusing on Health Enterprise Management, Finance and Marketing. She worked in engineering, clinical, and commercialization for a neuromodulation start-up and in Corporate Development at Medtronic focused on strategy, investments, acquisitions, and divestitures.


Karlie Samuelson with Great Britain's team
A 19-6 run by GB in the game’s final 4:33 made all the difference in a low scoring contest as Coach Buceta’s side pulled away to a comfortable 67-53 victory against #5 ranked Canada in Manchester. Talented guard Karlie Samuelson was integral to that late burst as she scored five of her 16 points in the game's     final quarter, with Jo Leedham adding five more down the stretch.

Samuelson (16 points, three rebounds, three steals) was also able to help GB grab an early advantage, but not before a slow start to the game with little scoring from either team in the opening four minutes. Temi Fagbenle (10 points, nine rebounds, two assists, two steals) was key in restricting the visitors to just seven points in that opening frame, displaying a high motor from the outset to fight for loose balls and contest everything that came her way. That defensive pressure allowed Samuelson, Cheridene Green and Chantelle Handy to push GB to a 19-7 lead after one.

Karlie Interview
GB face Sweden this evening in the penultimate warm up game before travelling to Latvia next week for the start of FIBA Women’s EuroBasket. Ahead of this weekend’s double-header, GB spoke with Karlie Samuelson to get her thoughts on mood in the camp, Sweden and Spain and her first experience of EuroBasket.
How’s the mood in camp after the back to back wins v Canada?
“It’s good! Now we’ve travelled to Spain and I’m excited to play some teams that are actually in EuroBasket and see the difference. I know that the team played Sweden a couple of weeks ago and we’ll get a good look at Spain who are in our group so yeah, I’m excited.”
Looking ahead to these last two warm up games, what are you expecting from Sweden and Spain?
“Obviously they’re both really good teams. I know Sweden pressured the ball that last game and I think I just want to get a good feel of the pace of the game. I know Spain’s a really good team so I think it’s a good step to get ready for EuroBasket and see what we can do.”
Do you think at this stage the squad is well prepared for EuroBasket?
“yeah, I think so. We’ll use these games to help for sure but I think just playing together more and more wit the full squad will really help us get ready in these final two games.”
This is your first EuroBasket, what are you looking forward to the most?
“I’m excited to see the atmosphere. I know how big a tournament this is but for me spending a lot of time in the States I haven’t really followed a EuroBasket that closely before so I am excited to be part of it and I’m also excited to travel to new places that I haven’t been to before!”

Alumnae in Europe - Jillian Player of Week in Italy; Karlie interview from Belgium

Experienced New Zealand Jillian Harmon (185-PF-87, agency: LBM Management) had an amazing evening in the last round for Ragusa and that's her to receive a Interperformances Player of the Week award for round 11.
The 31-year old power forward had a double-double of 28 points and eleven rebounds, while her team crushed Battipaglia (#10, 2-9) with 16-point margin 79-63. Ragusa maintains the 3rd position in Italian Serie A1. They would have been even better if they hadn't lost a few games earlier this season. Ragusa will need more victories to improve their 8-3 record. Harmon turned to be Ragusa's top player in her first season with the team. Stanford University graduate has very impressive stats this year. Harmon is in league's top in rebounds (8th best: 9.0rpg) and averages solid 54.2% FGP.

Ragusa is currently 9 - 4 and in 4th place.
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Mithra Castors Braine made a great deal when they signed WNBA player Karlie Samuelson for this season. A California girl found her way to Belgium. Two weeks ago Samuelson joined the team and she immediately made a big impression. With Samuelson, Braine wants to make a big run in the Euroleague this season. And so far, Braine and Samuelson are a perfect match.   You finally played your first games for Braine. How was that? They were fun. It takes time to get used to playing with new people and new coaches. I like how we are getting to know each other.

Your debut in the Euroleague was impressive. 18 points, 3 rebounds, an assist, one steal in 28 minutes. How good did that make you feel? Thank you! It felt really good! I know I put in work in the off season and so it feels good to do well in my first Euroleague game. There will always be ups and downs in a season but it definitely boosted confidence for me and the win most importantly boosted confidence of the team.

You already committed to Braine in April? What convinced you half a year ago Belgium was the place to be? I really wanted to play for a Euroleague team and I heard good things about this club and decided to give it a go! Also, I had heard really good things about the country and so far, I am really liking living here.

You are known as a shooter playing for Stanford as a college player. You were one of college basketball’s top three-point shooters: 47.7 percent. The third best in the country. Where did you learn to shoot like that? My dad taught my sisters and I how to shoot. We spent a lot of time in the gym working on shooting, so I’m thankful to have my dad and my mom be so supportive and invested in me and my growth as a basketball player.

Your older sister Bonnie played for Stanford as well, your younger sister Katie-Lou plays for Connecticut. How was that? Three competitive sisters growing up together? Growing up together and playing the same sport allowed us to spend so much time together as a family. It is the reason we are so close. Yes, it was very competitive and definitely made us all better basketball players. I learned how to hold my own and be physical against my sisters, as they both ended up a good few inches taller than me.

As sisters, you evaluated each other after games. That will be difficult now. How do you keep contact nowadays? I talk to my sisters all the time on FaceTime. My whole family watched that first Euroleague game live on YouTube and they were all very excited for me. My little sister’s season is starting in a week and I always talk with her about how she is playing and feeling. Unfortunately, I have to wait a day or two to stream her games because I am over here in Europe, but I have watched every single one of her college games and I plan on continuing that this year.

Your father was a professional basketball player in England, your mother a netball player. Who gave all three of you their talents? Both my parents taught all of us how to shoot and play basketball. It was always a family affair, growing up going to practices and games together. Every year I think both of them taught each of us something new to add to our games.

Your father is American, your mother is from England. Bonnie chose to play for Great Britain’s national team, Katie-Lou is playing for the United States. This summer you played for the national team of Great Britain for the first time. It was an incredible experience playing for the Great Britain National team for the first time this year. The girls are so nice and we won two big games together.

Was your mother proud? My mom was definitely proud of me. Last year my mom and I visited her sister in England. That was the first time I had ever been there and the first time she had been back in 23 years. She is coming again this November with me. I am proud to represent the country that my mom is from.

It is possible you might have to go against Katie-Lou in the future playing on different national teams. That must be strange? It has always been a dream of mine to play against my sister. I never got the chance to in college, so playing against her and the USA team while on the Great Britain team would be a crazy and really fun experience. And playing with my sister in the future is a dream of mine as well.

This year you played in the WNBA for the LA Sparks. How was that experience? My first WNBA season was quite an experience. I had a lot of fun and learned so much about the game and about myself. And to be part of the LA Sparks was an absolute dream. I learned so much from playing with incredible players like Candace Parker, Chelsea Gray, Nneka Ogwumike and Alana Beard. Being able to play at Staples Center in front of my family and friends is something I am extremely proud of.

In 2017 you played strong in training camp for the Sparks but due to a fractured foot you were not able to complete camp so you didn’t make the team. Was it an extra motivation to make the team this year? I would say that fracturing my foot after playing well in camp definitely motivated me to work as hard as possible and improve my game to try to make the team the next year. I actually kept a WNBA logo that fell off of one of my shorts in my wallet the entire year to remind myself what I was working for.

Katie-Lou will be one of the top picks in the WNBA in 2019. What can you tell her about life as a professional player? I talk to my sister all the time about how to improve her game and how physical professional basketball can be. She has improved so much over her first three years in college and I am proud of how versatile she has become and the kind of leader she is on her team. I tend to learn a thing or two from her nowadays as well. The most important thing though is to be healthy, strong, and feeling good. We love to workout together in the small amount of time we get in the off season.

On Instagram I found a picture of you with Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant and your sister. Are you a Hollywood celebrity or where you at the right spot at the right time? Haha definitely not a celebrity. That was right after I fractured my foot. Penny Toler got me tickets for my family and myself for the season opener at Staples Center. Kobe’s daughter’s favorite player is Katie Lou and so we all got to say hi to her and talk with Kobe and Magic. It’s nice having a superstar little sister.

You played for the Sparks this year, played for the GB national team and you played in Italy. And now you have a full season ahead. That’s a heavy workload. How do you keep fresh? Life as a professional basketball player is definitely a lot of work because it is almost a year-round season. I make sure to keep my body feeling healthy with proper workouts and recovery but most importantly I keep my mind right by talking with my family and friends. I try to keep a positive mindset and remind myself to really enjoy these experiences that basketball has given me because playing basketball as my job is not something I can do forever. So I do not want to take it for granted.

Last question. After growing up in California and a full year in Italy. How do you like rainy Belgium? I have been spoiled growing up in the California weather! I am cold! But I just put on three jackets, a rain coat, scarf and a hat and I am good to go.

Castors Braine is 12 -1 and in 1st place. Karlie is averaging 16.1 ppg averaging approximately 26 minutes per game. She is shooting 55% on 3 pointers.