Courtesy of Morgan State Athletic Communications


BALTIMORE, Md., Aug. 12, 2021 -- Former Morgan State women's basketball guard Chelsea Mitchell has signed a deal with Fila San Martino Di Lupari of the Serie A1 League in Italy. Last season, Mitchell spent her rookie season overseas playing for ACS KSE Targu Secuiesc in the Romanian National League.

"I'm excited to play in Italy this season and compete with people who have a lot of pro/WNBA experience to allow me to be a sponge with their knowledge of the game," Mitchell said. "I'm ready to make an impact in Italy's division one league and win as many games as possible." 

Mitchell played in 23 games during the 2020-21 season and averaged a double-double, leading her Romanian team in scoring with an impressive 25 points per game, while ranking second on the team and fourth in the league in rebounding with 10.5 boards per contest. Mitchell would also add 3.7 assists and 4.1 steals per game.

The 23-year old Mitchell would be named Eurobasket.com All-Romanian League Import Player of the Year, Eurobasket.com All-Romanian League Defensive Player of the Year and was voted to the first team.

"My first season in Romania went great. I was able to get some good exposure while also playing against some really top basketball players," Mitchell said. "Learning about different cultures and meeting people who really admire U.S. professional athletes really humbles you and puts things into perspective."

A native of Columbia, Md., Mitchell was a three-year member on the Lady Bears. Mitchell, who earned her undergraduate degree in business administration in December 2019, spent her first two seasons at Morgan State before transferring. After a year away, she returned to the "National Treasure" and sat out the 2018-19 season to fulfill NCAA transfer requirements.

Mitchell returned to the court for the 2019-20 season for her senior campaign, and led the Lady Bears to a 17-13 overall mark and 12-4 in the MEAC to finish the regular season tied for second in the league standings. In what would be her final game in a Morgan State uniform, she grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, totaled 18 points and added a steal and an assist in the MEAC quarterfinal win over Delaware State. The win sent Morgan to its first MEAC semifinal appearance since 2007.
 
However, due to the current climate surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19), the Delaware State game would not only be the final contest of the tournament, but the final NCAA Division I college basketball game played for the 2019-20 season.

Mitchell concluded her senior season averaging a team-leading 15.6 points, a team-high 9.7 rebounds, and totaled a team-best 105 steals, while starting all 30 games. She garnered All-MEAC First Team accolades after receiving four MEAC Co-Player of the Week selections, one MEAC Player of the Week honor and two MEAC Co-Defensive Player of the Week awards. Mitchell became just the second Lady Bear in program history to be named to the BOXTOROW Division I HBCU All-American First Team.

The 5-foot-9 guard led the MEAC in both rebounding (4.9) and offensive rebounding per game at 4.9, was second in scoring (15.6), second in steals (3.5), third in field goal percentage (.505), fifth in defensive rebounding (4.9) and 14th in free throw percentage (.655). She posted a MEAC leading 14 double-doubles and reached double figures in scoring 26 times, including a career-high 26 points at Howard. She also grabbed a career-best 17 rebounds against Delaware State and was the top rebounder amongst all players at the eight NCAA Division 1 schools in the State of Maryland after averaging 9.7 boards a game.
 
Mitchell ranked third in the nation in offensive rebounding (146), sixth nationally in total steals (105) and seventh in steals per game (3.50). She ended her career ranked eighth on the steals chart at Morgan State with 184.