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Joyeuse to represent Rwanda in AfroBasket tournament
7/1/2025 2:22:00 PM | Women's Basketball
GCU transfer guard to play for senior national team in Ivory Coast this month
Grand Canyon shooting guard Sifa Joyeuse will pause her Valley workouts with the Lopes to return to her home continent of Africa and compete in the 2025 Women's AfroBasket as a part of the Rwanda senior national team.
Joyeuse, a native of Musanze, Rwanda, will compete in her second AfroBasket tournament after helping lead Rwanda to its best-ever finish in 2023, when it had a fourth-place showing as the host. The semifinalist berth in 2023 led Rwanda to earn an automatic bid to the 2025 tournament, which begins July 25 and runs through Aug. 3 in Ivory Coast.
The 5-foot-11 junior guard spent the past three weeks working out with her new GCU program after transferring from Middle Tennessee, where she played one season (2023-24). She spent two seasons at FIU prior to her stay in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and earned 2022-23 Conference USA All-Freshman Team honors for averaging 8.1 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game.
As a part of Group D, Rwanda opens AfroBasket play with defending champion Nigeria on July 26, followed by a matchup with Mozambique on July 27. Eight of the 12 teams that make up four groups advance to the quarterfinals, which begin July 31. The tournament's top four finishers will advance to World Cup qualifying.
Joyeuse is the second Lope to compete for a senior national team over the past two years, joining Trinity San Antonio, who represented Puerto Rico in the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
To watch AfroBasket games, the streams can be found at Courtside1891 online.Â
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Joyeuse, a native of Musanze, Rwanda, will compete in her second AfroBasket tournament after helping lead Rwanda to its best-ever finish in 2023, when it had a fourth-place showing as the host. The semifinalist berth in 2023 led Rwanda to earn an automatic bid to the 2025 tournament, which begins July 25 and runs through Aug. 3 in Ivory Coast.The 5-foot-11 junior guard spent the past three weeks working out with her new GCU program after transferring from Middle Tennessee, where she played one season (2023-24). She spent two seasons at FIU prior to her stay in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and earned 2022-23 Conference USA All-Freshman Team honors for averaging 8.1 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game.
As a part of Group D, Rwanda opens AfroBasket play with defending champion Nigeria on July 26, followed by a matchup with Mozambique on July 27. Eight of the 12 teams that make up four groups advance to the quarterfinals, which begin July 31. The tournament's top four finishers will advance to World Cup qualifying.
Joyeuse is the second Lope to compete for a senior national team over the past two years, joining Trinity San Antonio, who represented Puerto Rico in the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
To watch AfroBasket games, the streams can be found at Courtside1891 online.Â
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