Courtesy of Savannah State athletics
ATLANTA, Ga.– The Atlanta Dream of the WNBA has announced the signing of former HBCU women’s basketball star Ezinne Kalu of Savannah State University to a seven-day hardship contract.
During the second half of the season, WNBA teams can sign replacement players to seven-day contracts to fill short-term roster holes. According to HerHoopStats, hardship contracts provide 75 percent of the applicable minimum base salary designated at the time the player is on the roster.
The 5’8″ guard brings a wealth of international experience, most recently leading the 2024 Nigerian Olympic team past the group stage in Paris earlier this year. Kalu averaged 18.5 points per game in Paris, ranking her fourth in the category, behind only Emma Meesseman (BEL), A’ja Wilson (USA), and Satou Sabally (GER). Kalu’s standout performance came against Australia, where she led D’Tigress to an upset win, scoring 19 points, with five assists, five rebounds, and three steals.
Kalu also averaged 3.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 2.5 steals per game at the games and was named to the 2024 Olympic Games Women’s Basketball Second Team.
During her senior season of HBCU basketball at Savannah State University, Kalu led the Lady Tigers to a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament Championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I National Tournament, in 2015. She was also named to the 2015 All-MEAC First Team as well as the MEAC All-Tournament Team. Kalu also earned All-MEAC honors in 2012.
Kalu’s career at Savannah State resulted in her playing in 131 games while averaging 16.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.1 assist and 2.9 steals per game.
The Newark, New Jersey native is the first and only Savannah State women’s basketball player to score 2,000 career points.
After graduating from SSU in 2015 with a degree in history, Ezinne Kalu has enjoyed a professional career that has taken her across international waters to play in Portugal, Hungary, Germany and France.