BCC Derthona puts Pallas Kunaiyi-Akpanah in the centre
Autosped BCC Derthona announces that it has reached an agreement with Pallas Kunaiyi Akpanah, center born in '97 who has worn the La Molisana Campobasso jersey for the last two seasons.
CAREER – Born in Port Harcourt (Nigeria) on July 12, 1997, Pallas took her first steps in basketball in her home country, before moving to Rabun Gap-Nacochee School in Georgia (USA). She led her team to second place in the 2014 state tournament.
Kunaiyi-Akpanah then chose Northwestern Wildcats as her college, with which she completed her four-year term. Her performance improved season after season: she concluded her third year averaging 11.3 points and 11.8 rebounds, while in her final season of college experience she averaged 11.1 points and 11 rebounds, being named to the Big Ten All-Star Team by journalists. Pallas became the second player in Northwestern history to average over 1000 rebounds during her career.
Not selected in the 2019 WNBA Draft, she took part in the Chicago Sky training camp, before choosing to start her professional career in Italy. In the summer of 2019 she signed with Vigarano, with whom she averaged 9.6 points and 15.6 rebounds per game, with a career high of 27 captured in the game against Broni on December 15, 2019.
The season ended early due to the championships being stopped due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the new BCC Derthona player moved to Belgium, to Namur, for the 2020/21 season, where she showed off both in the championship and in the EuroCup (competition she finished with an average of 11 points and 13.3 rebounds).
After his experience in Belgium, the center born in 97 returned to Italy, to Faenza, where he remained for the following two years. In 2021/22, with 12.1 points and 14.5 rebounds on average per outing, he contributed to the team's salvation, a goal that was also achieved the following season in which Pallas further raised his performance, closing 2022/23 with 15.4 points and 16.7 rebounds on average.
These important numbers earned her a call from La Molisana Campobasso, one of the most important teams on the national scene. With the team coached by Mimmo Sabatelli, she reached the playoff semifinal in her first year, finishing with 11 points and 10.7 rebounds on average. In 2024/25 she raised her performance once again, becoming an increasingly important player in the team's tactical chessboard: with her 20.7 points and 14.3 rebounds she led Campobasso to the Coppa Italia Final Four, while in the championship she scored 13 points and 11.2 rebounds per outing, contributing to the team reaching third place in the standings at the end of the regular season. In the playoffs, the team beat Geas Sesto San Giovanni in the quarterfinals and was the protagonist of a thrilling semifinal series against Reyer Venezia: Campobasso was defeated 3-1, but at the end of four games resolved only in the final stages. In the season just ended, he also played in the EuroCup, finishing with 12.3 points and 10.3 rebounds per game.
Pallas has always finished the five seasons played in Italy with a double-digit average for rebounds captured and, in four seasons, he has recorded a double-double on average, confirming the solidity of his performance.
Wearing the national team jersey, Pallas won the gold medal in Afrobasket in 2021 and 2023 and took part in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where he finished in eleventh place, and in Paris 2024, where Nigeria finished in eighth place, proving itself as one of the revelation teams of the event. Now Pallas Kunaiyi-Akpanah moves to Autosped BCC Derthona to start a new chapter in his career.
