Peljto To Join European League

One of Harvard’s greatest women’s basketball players is going global.

Well, more like European.

Senior Hana Peljto, the two-time Ivy Player of the Year, is currently in the process of negotiating a contract to continue her basketball career overseas, a process that should soon see a resolution.

“[The signing] should go down in a couple weeks,” Peljto said.

She participated in the WNBA combine on April 7 and 8, among the nation’s top collegiate ballers. “It went really well,” Peljto said. “I was pretty amazed by the skill of some of them. It was an intense atmosphere of competition, but at the same time I had a great time.”

Before the three-round April 17 WNBA Draft, Peljto said she was told that she had a chance of being chosen in the second or third rounds.

She wound up not being selected, but was invited to training camp by the New York Liberty, Connecticut Sun, Minnesota Lynx and Sacramento Monarchs.

Since most second and third-rounders do not make WNBA rosters, it is often better off for a player to not be drafted in the last two rounds, and as a free agent, to choose what team to play for. But it was not an easy decision for Peljto.

“I basically was given like an hour to decide what I wanted to do,” she said.

Peljto said she had determined before the draft that if she was in fact selected, she would go to training camp with the team that picked her and leave school. If she wasn’t drafted, she would simply seek a team overseas. But she did not exactly have a contingency plan for free-agency.

Training camps are slated to start April 22, so Peljto would have had to miss the last month and a half of school, including commencement. In the end she decided to put off her WNBA hoop dreams for at least one year.

“I just feel like this is a time of college I can’t miss,” Peljto said. “Graduation is a pretty big deal for my family and I could see myself regretting not being here, and I think I’ve made the best decision for me.”

She instead has elected to seek a spot on a club across the pond and perhaps come back next year with a better chance at securing a roster spot in the WNBA.

Just recently, playoffs for European leagues ended, so those teams are starting to recruit new players. Peljto said her agent is scouting out opportunities in France, Italy and Spain.

While the French league is most competitive, the Italian pays the best.

“I’m focusing on France right now, and seeing what happens, and Italy will probably be the next option,” Peljto said. “France is my number one option.”

Last summer, the Crimson basketball team made a trip to France to play against various European teams. Peljto said she got a good feel for European game, and met coaches, a few agents and some people connected to the league.

“They haven’t really helped me in my search, but I’ll be excited to have people I know around next year,” she said. “I’ve kept in contact with them.”

Born in Bosnia, Peljto has in a sense been playing overseas her entire high school and collegiate career.

“I’ve been looking forward to going back to Europe for a long time, especially to be closer to home,” she said.

Peljto said she decided against playing at home in Bosnia, because the league has not really developed.

The fact that she still carries a Bosnian passport will also help her in the pursuit of an elite team, since most European leagues limit their teams to two Americans per roster.

Another prominent Harvard alum playing in France is Allison Feaster ’98, who plays for U.S. Valenciennes Olympic—a French league team that just recently won the EuroLeague Championship. At the conclusion of each country’s tournament, the top teams across the continent are invited to the EuroLeague Tournament. After scoring 22 points in the championship game, Feaster was named to the tournament All-Star Five.

Feaster also plays for the Charlotte Sting of the WNBA, and Peljto said she hopes that she will improve her game enough to have a better chance at joining Feaster.

She will spend her time adjusting to a new position, moving from the four, a forward position, to the three, a guard spot.

Thus far in her career, the 6’2 Peljto hasn’t had much of an opportunity at guard, and she will look to play more facing the basket, improve her passing and become more comfortable around the perimeter.

Depending on the team and league that signs her, she will be leaving anywhere from early August to September.

But for now, Peljto, like the rest of the class of 2004, has one focus—enjoying senior spring.

She is still lifting and running, but is relaxing and not playing much basketball.

“It’s kind of weird to take time off after not being able to for so long,” she said. “But I’m just enjoying it right now, and I’ll get back to work definitely this summer.”

—Staff writer J. Patrick Coyne can be reached at coyne@fas.harvard.edu.