SHENZEN, China – Portland Pilots Women’s Basketball continues to shine internationally, with two Pilot alums – New Zealand’s Emme Shearer and Australia’s Alex Fowler – excelling at the 2025 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup with their respective national teams.
The FIBA Women’s Asia Cup is an international basketball tournament where every two years national teams from both FIBA Asia and FIBA Oceania compete for a chance to qualify for the FIBA World Cup. The winner earns an automatic qualification for the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup while the next five finishers (2nd-6th) advance to the global qualifying tournaments. New Zealand and Australia are two of eight teams in the Asia Cup, with New Zealand competing in Group A and Australia in Group B.
Shearer is the leading scoring through two games for New Zealand, averaging 15 points a game along with 5.5 rebounds and three assists. She scored a team-high 22 points in the opening game against Korea, adding four rebounds and three assists as well. New Zealand is currently 1-1 in Group A, sitting in third by tiebreaker.
Fowler, meanwhile, is third in scoring for Australia at 11 points a game while adding six rebounds and 4.3 assists per contest in just 21.7 minutes per game. Australia finished first in their group, with Fowler shining in each contest. She posted 11 points, five rebounds and five assists against the Philippines and tallied 11 points, eight rebounds and six assists against Lebanon for stellar all-around performances.
Shearer and Fowler are two of the most accomplished players in Pilots history, having played crucial roles in Portland’s recent success. Shearer was with the Pilots this past season, helping lead Portland to a 31-5 record, a program-best for wins. She averaged a team-high 16.7 points per game along 4.2 rebounds and just under two steals. Shearer – who twice earned All-WCC First Team honors as well as honorable mention in the 2022-23 season – finished her Pilot career as the all-time leader in both games played (158) and games started (135), fourth all-time in steals (289) and fifth all-time in points (1,688) and field goals made (615). She was a part of two WCC Tournament Championship-winning teams in 2023 and 2024.
Fowler goes down as not just one of the best players in Pilot history, but among WCC players as well. A four-time All-WCC First Team selection, a two-time WCC Tournament champion (2020, 2023) and a two-time WCC Tournament MVP, Fowler is Portland’s all-time leader at the Division I level in points (2,132), field goals (832), field goal percentage (.550) and rebounds (882). She is second all-time among all Pilot players in all those categories. Fowler ranks third all-time in scoring average (17.5), fourth in free throws made (415), sixth in rebounding average (7.2) and 10th in blocks (89). She is the only Pilot ever to make four All-WCC First Teams.
The Pilots put together an incredible season, finishing 31-5 overall and 17-3 in WCC play. They earned a share of the WCC regular season title and also broke a program record for wins in a season. They earned their first ever two playoff wins on the road after qualifying for the WBIT, making the quarterfinals. They also advanced to their third straight WCC Tournament championship and their fourth in six years.
Group play is finished for Australia, who advance to the semifinals with six points total in Group A. New Zealand has a chance to make the semifinals of the tournament, facing off against the Chinese national team tomorrow at 4:30 a.m. PST.
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