When senior guard Mara Neira was growing up in Galicia, Spain, she dreamed of playing basketball in the United States. Today, she gets to live that dream by playing for the Black and Gold.
Neira did not find the path to the Mountaineers easy. Her senior year of high school at Instituto de Enseñanza Secundaria Primeiro de Marzo in Pontevedra, Spain, was in 2020, a year when the world dealt with the effects of COVID-19. This limited the number of U.S. scouts with eyes on her. Still, Neira found a way to make it to the U.S. after receiving her only offer from Eastern Wyoming College.
She struggled to find her stride over 4,500 miles away from the only home she knew.
“My first semester, I wouldn’t talk to anybody,” Neira said, referring to the process of learning English. “I would speak with my Spanish friends because the good thing about juco is I always had at least three or four Spanish teammates.”
Eventually, tired of talking to the same people daily, she came out of her shell and learned English through conversation with new friends, classmates and teammates.
After starting 21 times in 39 games for Eastern Wyoming, she received an offer to play Division I basketball from head coach Alaura Sharp, who was coaching at Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina.
While at Presbyterian, Neira and Sharp led the Blue Hose to a conference title and their first NCAA tournament appearance in program history. Then, before this season, they traveled up the mountain to App State.
“If it weren’t for coach Sharp, I wouldn’t be playing DI basketball,” Neira said.
The love Sharp has for Neira is apparent in the way she talks about her. It is also exemplified by Neira being the only player from Presbyterian Sharp brought with her. Sharp continues to develop Neira into the player she knows she can be.
“She’s improved as a leader; she’s improved as a defensive player,” Sharp said. “Her shot selection has really improved. She just plays a great role for us, leading scoring off the bench. I think our bench is top 15 in the country and she really leads the charge with her play.”
Another new transfer, junior forward Elena Pericic from Rijeka, Croatia, fostered a relationship with Neira, which helped her confidence.
“Mara and I started texting each other a few days after I signed for App State,” Pericic said. “There was nothing special that we did. I think that we connected really quickly, and since then we are just really good friends, and I’m glad that I got to play with her and hang out with her off the basketball court because me and her are sharing some things and I just think that we are connected in a special way.”
While Neira’s offensive talent takes the spotlight, as she averages over 8 points per game, her perspective as a basketball player from Spain is invaluable to the team as she is one of four international players on the Mountaineers’ roster, including her close friend Pericic.
“You bring together different cultures with different experiences,” Sharp said. “I love international players. They’re really mature, they take their academics really seriously.”
Neira also tries to carry a little bit of home everywhere she goes, which includes speaking with her family as much as possible. Sometimes her family shares a piece of home with her.
“Earlier this year my family sent me a care package of chorizo, salchichón and salami or something like that,” she said.
Many in the U.S. don’t understand the level at which basketball is played internationally. In the U.S. bubble, it’s easy to get carried away covering ISO-scoring phenoms, but players like Neira serve as reminders that basketball is a global game, and international competitors deserve respect to the highest degree.
“The way they play and train in the European world of basketball is a great fit for how we want to play,” Sharp said. “We like a high basketball IQ. We like players that can shoot the ball.”
Neira continues to shoot her way into the minds of Mountaineer fans.
