CHEYENNE — Before the season started, University of Wyoming women’s basketball coach Heather Ezell said she was excited to see how some of the newcomers would be able to acclimate to the college game.
One player, in particular, was freshman point guard Kati Ollilainen.
So far, the Helsinki, Finland native hasn’t disappointed. Ollilainen has been one of the first players off the bench all season long and has contributed key minutes for the Cowgirls.
“When you can have anybody as a freshman come in and play big minutes, that’s big,” Ezell said. “At the point guard position, that’s (even bigger). She had some injuries that she battled through, but she has given us what we expected — being able to come in as a steady backup point guard for us.”
Ollilainen enters UW’s Women’s National Invitation Tournament opener on Sunday averaging 14.1 minutes per game. That number ranks seventh on the team and second among players coming off the bench.
The freshman isn’t tasked with providing bulk scoring for the Cowgirls. However, she has been efficient from the field when called upon, averaging 2.8 points per game on 42.1% shooting from the field.
It’s also something that has been a pleasant surprise for Ezell and the coaching staff.
“She’s even passed up shots where I’m like, ‘Hey, you have to be ready to knock that one down. You’ve done it,’” Ezell said. “Her ability to score in our motion has been a nice surprise.”
What keeps her on the court is her play on the defensive end. Ollilainen comes in and plays lockdown defense for UW, and her 11 steals ranks second among reserves.
It’s something she takes a great deal of pride in.
“This year, I have really focused on defense,” Ollilainen said. “I really like playing defense, and (seeing junior guard Emily Mellema) play hard defense in front of me, it’s easier to try to keep going and doing what she’s doing.”
Ollilainen said it wasn’t until she got to her national team in Finland that defense became a big part of her skillset.
“I wasn’t always so defensively minded,” Ollilainen said. “... Defense is mental and how much you want to do it. You just have to have the mentality of, ‘I’m going to stop you.’”
The freshman point guard came to Laramie after an outstanding career with HBA-Märsky in the Naisten Korisliga in Finland, where she was the team captain. In 2019, she was also named U19 Finnish League player of the year after averaging nearly 20 points, 7.7 rebounds and 5.2 assist per game.
She was also named team captain of Finland’s U20 National Team and posted 10 points, five rebounds and 4.6 assists in seven games during European championship play.
“One of the biggest things in my basketball career was being named to the senior national team,” Ollilainen said. “I was super honored, and it made me super motivated to keep going, practicing and getting better.
“It was pretty cool to play against the best players in the world.”
Like most international players, Ollilainen had a desire to compete at the high level that NCAA Division I basketball offers. Part of her decision to come to Laramie stemmed from some heavy recruitment from sophomore guard and 2023 Mountain West freshman of the year Malene Pedersen.
“I knew her before I came here (when) we played against each other when we were younger,” Ollilainen said. “She talked about Wyoming and her experiences here, and that just helped me with my decision.”
One of Ollilainen’s biggest benefits to her early development has been being able to learn from Mellema. As the backup point guard, Ollilainen has leaned heavily on Mellema to show her how UW runs its offense from the point guard position.
“She’s been amazing,” Ollilainen said. “She’s the one who is helping me all the time. I can go and ask her (questions whenever I want). She is helping me a lot and showing me all the little things.
“She was in my position her first year, so she knows what I am going through.”
The Cowgirls enter Sunday’s matchup with the University of Texas at San Antonio looking to avenge a disappointing showing in the MW tournament, which saw them go out in a difficult fashion against Boise State in the quarterfinals.
The energy has been high at practice this week, with the Cowgirls knowing they have a chance to make good on the less-than-ideal showing in Las Vegas.
“We are all upset about how our Mountain West tournament ended,” Ollilainen said. “Now, we are fortunate enough to play more games.
“... We want to show that we are a better team. We know we can beat teams, and we just want to go in and compete and have fun together as a team.”
Let the news come to you
Get any of our free email newsletters — news headlines, sports, arts & entertainment, state legislature, CFD news, and more.
Explore newsletters
