BEN ROSOF: Kitija Laksa played over three seasons with the South Florida Bulls before suffering a season-ending ACL and meniscus injury three games into her senior season. She finished her USF career sixth all-time in scoring at 1,718 points, first all-time in free throw percentage at 89.6 and second in three-point percentage at 39.1.
Following the injury, Laksa opted to forego a final year of eligibility in the NCAA and instead competed for TTT Riga. Unfortunately, Laksa didn’t experience the same kind of success she had at South Florida. She played seven games during the 2019-20 season, averaging just eight points on 30% shooting from the field. Storm head coach Dan Hughes was drawn to Laksa through several other instances of watching her play, whether with USF against fellow-AAC foe Connecticut or in the 2018 World Cup against USA Basketball, for which the Hughes serves as an assistant.