When Miela Sowah lets go of the ball, it has a long way to go. At 5-foot-11, she isnโt short for WNBA standards, but she releases the ball from lower than nearly any player in the league.
Sowah lets it fly from her chest, pushing the ball upward before a flick of the wrist high over her head, the shot soaring (perhaps over Seattleโs Zia Cooke). Itโs something the Valkyries have seen before, like at the late preseason practice at the Chase Center when Sowah made three consecutive half-court shots, to the joy of head coach Natalie Nakase.
โShe has mentioned that a few times,โ Sowah said with a laugh. โI was just locked in.โ
Sowah has always been a shooter. She doesnโt remember when her unique form took hold, but itโs something coaches stopped trying to alter when she started her college career.
Simply, there was no reason to fix what wasnโt broken.
โIt might be foreign to somebody else,โ said her college coach, Kara Lawson, who is the head coach of Duke womenโs basketball and also the head coach for the Team USA womenโs squad. โBut itโs regular for her.โ
Sowah played for Duke from 2018 to 2022 before returning to Australia to play professionally. She was invited to Valkyries training camp this year, her first look by a WNBA squad.
Lawson watched Sowah grow from across the globe. โSheโs progressed every year.โ And she did it without changing what made her unique: her shot.
โI used to shoot lower when I was younger,โ Sowah said. โWhen I was 15, a coach said I need to move it up.โ She complied, a little.
In college, Sowah โ who went by her maiden name, Miela Goodchild โ was known as a shooter.
She shot 38.2 percent from three-point range in college while scoring 8.7 points per game and starting more often than not.
โI liked her, and I thought she would be an overseas player, for sure,โ Lawson said. โBut to become a WNBA player, I didnโt think at the time.โ
Sowah excelled in Australia, including hitting a game-tying three-pointer to force overtime before winning a championship with the game-winning layup with 11 seconds remaining. But she didnโt think sheโd get a chance at the WNBA until the Valkyries called her.
Nakase found Sowah to have an “infectious” enthusiasm that she wanted to give a chance to flourish in training camp. โShe really wants to do whatever it takes to help us win,โ Nakase said.
And in the Valkyries lone preseason game against Seattle, Sowah did.
She hit four consecutive three-pointers in the second half and finished 4-for-5 overall. That might have earned her the first development spot in franchise history after she had already been impressing in training camp.
โShe’s not scared of big moments, clearly, because she stepped up in that preseason game,โ Nakase said. โBut that’s like what we see every day.โ
Sowah dressed for the first two Valkyries games, which means she was available to play, although she only played three minutes in the first game against Seattle. She could get more chances for a team that isnโt deep at point guard, and now without guard Kate Martin, might need a sharpshooter off the bench at some point.
Until that chance comes, sheโll keep firing halfcourt shots during practice, bringing energy and continuing to prove people wrong.
โIโve kept my shot, I guess it works,โ Sowah said. โI got to this point with it, itโs fast enough against length, Iโll stick with it.โ
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