Blanca Quiñonez has made history as the first South American player for the UConn Huskies. The 19-year-old forward from Ecuador began her professional basketball career in Italy before joining the American college ranks. She verbally committed to UConn in October 2024, without having visited the campus.
From Ecuador to Serie A1
Quiñonez’s basketball journey began at age five after attending a local summer camp with her twin brother and older brother. She was just 13 when she left her family in Ecuador to play club basketball in Italy. Two years later, she made her professional debut for Magnolia Campobasso in Italy’s Serie A1 professional basketball league.
Blanca opened up to college recruitment in April 2024 after watching that year’s Final Four and taking note of the growth of women’s college basketball in the United States. Interest from top Division I programs followed immediately.
Family Support From Afar
Nicknamed “Blanquita” by her family, the 6-foot-2 forward remains close to them despite the distance. “I’m very attached to my family—they are a fundamental pillar for me—but I think that when you take a leap like this, you focus on the person you can become in the future,” she told CT Insider. “And I think that’s something that helped me stay firm with this decision and not want to turn back.”
Her mother, Fabiola, a former basketball player herself, introduced Blanca to the sport. Fabiola told USA Today that Blanca was very shy as a child, which made her initial move away from home much harder. “She was a girl who didn’t speak. She only ever said two to three words,” Fabiola told USA Today. “To see her now, speaking three languages, to see how she has developed—she took advantage of every second of distance from her parents.”
Blanca’s father, Guillermo, is said to have worked long hours to support his family. “We sacrificed so much to be able to take care of my family,” Guillermo told USA Today. “To see my kids successful and achieve what they want, that is all I could ask for.”
A Sporting Family
Blanca has two siblings: a twin brother named Jaime and an older brother named Joel. “With the three of us—my twin, my older brother, and me—whenever we were together, we were total chaos,” Blanca told CT Insider about playing sports together growing up.
Blanca’s twin brother Jaime is also a professional athlete, competing as a pro footballer. He has competed for domestic clubs including Alianza Milagro, Emelec, Técnico Universitario, 9 de Octubre, and Orense, and had a trial with C.F. Pachuca of Liga MX in Mexico. She described him to the Ecuadorian newspaper El Comercio as “a fighter with talent and discipline.” Blanca even played football before committing fully to basketball, crediting the sport with sharpening her agility and court vision.
Born on August 3, 2006, Blanca Quiñonez’s journey has taken her from Ecuador to Italy and now to the United States, where she hopes to continue her basketball development with the UConn Huskies.