Even though the season is over, Oregon State University received some national recognition in the women’s basketball world earlier this month. In two exhibition matches, OSU player Catarina Ferreira competed with the Brazilian national team against the Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky from the WNBA.

“It feels amazing, like at first when they (the Brazilian national team) called me, I was like, ‘Whoa, is that for real?’” Ferreira said. “Even when I was there, it still felt like a surreal moment.”

According to ESPN, the game between Brazil and the Fever averaged 1.3 million viewers – more than all but two NBA preseason games since 2010, per a tweet from ESPN’s vice president of research, Flora Kelly.

Brazil lost to the Sky 89-62 on May 2 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and lost to the Fever 108-44 on May 4 in Iowa City, Iowa. Ferreira started against the Sky, where she logged nine points and two assists. She worked off the bench against the Fever to score five points, four rebounds, and two assists.

Ferreira, the 2025 West Coast Conference tournament MVP, is coming back to play for Oregon State next season as a graduate student. It will be her second and final year with the Beavers. 

“Playing against the best, you set your standards,” Ferreira said. “(I’m) just coming here ready to work and super excited for my last season.”

Although she has since been waived, former OSU rival and Gonzaga player Yvonne Ejim shared the court with Ferreira, playing against her on the Fever. 

“It was pretty fun. I remember walking to the locker room after warming up before the game starts so I saw her (Ejim), we started talking, what a coincidence, like we just finished playing the WCC tournament and now she’s in the W and I’m playing for the Brazil team,” Ferreira said. “It was a lovely coincidence.”

The Brazilian team had only two days to practice together as a group and had never played together before. During the NCAA offseason, Ferreira plans to practice more with the Brazilian national team to attempt to make the team for the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup tournament, which is a qualifier for both the Olympics and the FIBA Women’s World Cup.

Despite the losses in the exhibition matches, Ferreira is looking ahead to the future with OSU. “I’m very, very, very excited for this year,” she said. “Last season.”

The NCAA basketball season begins in November, and the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup tournament will begin on June 28, where Brazil will face off against Argentina.