SANTIAGO, Chile — Having been added to the provisional roster, a feat in itself, Bella Nascimento ’25 knew her goal hadn’t yet been reached. Before the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup 2025 got underway, Brazil’s final lineup had to be trimmed from 18 players to 12.
All along, Nascimento was confident she would be among those who made it. All she had to do was play her game, especially as she did in leading William & Mary to its first ever CAA women’s basketball championship and NCAA appearance.
Maybe Nascimento would have made the national team regardless of her performance in Sunday’s scrimmage against Canada. But her team-leading 19 points in Brazil’s 74-55 win surely didn’t hurt.
“I think that sealed it for me,” said Nascimento, who learned Monday morning that she had made the final roster. “I had really good practices leading up to the game and the coaches would come up to me and say ‘good job.’ I thought I had a good chance, but that game put the cherry on top.
“It was one of my dreams, one of my goals, to be a part of something like this. I feel super blessed to have played well and put myself on the map. This is an opportunity I’ve always wanted.”
As she did in all 35 of the Tribe’s games last season, Nascimento started Sunday’s friendly against Canada. She went 7-of-16 from the field, 4-of-10 from behind the 3-point arc, and finished with two assists and two steals. She had only one turnover in nearly 28 minutes.
Nobody was more excited, or less surprised, than W&M coach Erin Dickerson Davis.
“I FaceTimed her (Monday), and it was early and she was still in bed,” Davis said. “We were yelling and screaming because I was so happy for her. When we were recruiting Bella, I asked her what she wanted out of basketball. She said ‘My dream is to play for the Brazilian National Team.”
“To see her now living her dream, I just told her, don’t forget this is what you prayed for, so enjoy every minute of it. Don’t be too cool to take videos and pictures because this is your wildest dream. I’m so happy for her that she was able to do it.”
Brazil will open play in the AmeriCup Saturday at 2:10 p.m. against Argentina in Santiago, Chile.
Nascimento, whose mother is Brazilian, is coming off a memorable senior year at W&M in which she was named Most Outstanding Player of the CAA tournament. She had 33 points and 11 rebounds, both career highs, in the championship game.
“(Brazil’s) interest kind of all started when I scored my 1,000th (career) point, and they reached out to me,” Nascimento said. “Then we won the championship, and it all kind of exploded. They were like, ‘Hey, we’d love for you to join us with the national team.’
“It was super awesome. It’s not every day you get a call like that.”
Nascimento’s first two games were exhibitions against the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever. The first was at LSU’s Pete Maravich Assembly Center, where Sky forward Angel Reese used to play. Davis and assistant coach Kenia Cole were there, and Nascimento knocked down a 3-pointer in the first quarter.
The second game was at Iowa’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Fever point guard Caitlin Clark’s old stomping grounds. Nascimento scored five points, including a left-corner 3 over the very player a capacity crowd of 14,998 came to see.
After the game, Nascimento was one of dozens, if not hundreds, to have her picture taken with Clark.
“I mean, who wouldn’t want to take a picture with her?” Nascimento said. “She’s Caitlin Clark. Playing against her was truly an experience.”
But during those two games, against some of the world’s greatest players, she kept her poise.
“I didn’t really put too much pressure on myself,” Nascimento said. “I knew who I was playing, but I didn’t give it too much emphasis so they didn’t overpower me. At the end of the day, they’re human. We all laugh and we all cry.”
Her only tears now are of joy.
