Amelia Hassett playing junior basketball for the Cootamundra Cougars. Photo: Cootamundra Cougars.
Adelong’s own Amelia Hassett has been drafted to the best basketball league in the world, the WNBA, after being selected by the Los Angeles Sparks at pick 35 in this year’s draft.
Hassett has spent the past two years playing college basketball at the University of Kentucky, playing as a high-percentage shooter at the small forward position.
She recently set the single-season record for most three-pointers made, hitting 99 shots in the 2025/26 season.
Hassett has landed in LA and will undergo a two-week training camp as she looks to assert her position in the Sparks team before the 2026 WNBA season starts in mid-May.
Amelia’s mother Rachael said she had an inkling Amelia was set to be selected, but refused to say anything until it was official.
“I felt like something was going to happen, but you just never know with the draft up until it actually happens,” she said.
“Amelia got a message from her agent just before the draft happened saying, ‘Look out for a pick around the 30s’.
“Her father knew nothing at all in the lead-up, so when her name got called out, he was jumping on the lounge in excitement. The entire family was so emotional, there were a lot of tears and a lot of excitement.”
Amelia got her start in basketball after her brother grew tired of her being unable to catch a ball.
Once she was able to, she soon signed up for the local basketball competition in Tumut.
“In Kindergarten, we used to go down to the bus stop to wait for the bus, where she and her brother, William, would throw a ball,” Rachael said.
“William was very horrified that she couldn’t catch a ball. She was very uncoordinated, and he was very determined to change that.
“Over the next three or four years, her brother would just throw her a ball, trying to get her to catch it. Then, when she was eight, she signed up for a basketball team in Tumut.
“Originally her first love was rhythmic gymnastics, but the more she played basketball, the more she grew to love it.”
Amelia eventually moved to the US for the 2022-23 season, where she attended junior college at Eastern Florida State College (EFSC).
Hassett won a state title in her first season with the EFSC Titans and was averaging 19.4 points per game and 13 rebounds for the season before being approached by Virginia Tech in 2023.
Following a single season at Virginia Tech, she made the switch to the University of Kentucky in 2024, where she played two seasons before being drafted this week.
“She was very blessed at Kentucky. She’s had such an amazing coaching staff, and they poured a lot of their time and effort into Amelia,” Rachael said.
“The only place she had more support was back home. From the get-go, the Adelong community have been extremely supportive.
“They watched her closely already with what she’s been doing at uni, and I have no doubt that will continue even more now.
“It’s great that she’s been brought up in a small community because everyone here is so supportive of her. To say my daughter, from the small town of Adelong has made the WNBA is just amazing.”
