With a reloaded roster heading into the 2020 WNBA season, the Mercury have extended training camp invites to French guard Olivia Epoupa and Aussie forward Sara Blicavs, two players with extensive overseas professional and national team experience. Epoupa and Blicavs will join the Mercury in the team’s training camp when it officially begins to vie for their first WNBA roster spots.

Epoupa is coming off a strong showing during the 2019-20 WNBL season in Australia, where she helped lead the UC Capitals to a league championship. The 5-5 guard averaged 9.2 points, 7.7 rebounds and a team-best 6.7 assists in 26 games and nearly recorded a triple-double in the team’s closeout win for the title, finishing with 16 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds. Her strong performances in the best-of-three championship series earned her Grand Final MVP honors. Epoupa led the league in steals per game (3.0) on the season, ranked second in the league in assists and finished 10th in rebounding, one of only two players in the league to rank in the top-10 in each of the three categories.

Born in France, Epoupa is a member of the French national team where she plays alongside new Mercury teammate Bria Hartley. The two recently helped France qualify for the Olympic Games, which will now take place in the summer of 2021. In the team’s three Olympic qualifying games in February, Epoupa averaged 6.0 points, 3.7 assists and 3.3 rebounds in 22.6 minutes of action each game. As part of the national team, she’s been a member of three silver medalist French squads at the 2015, 2017 and 2019 Women’s EuroBasket tournaments.

Epoupa has seen stints in several other countries during her professional career, most notably in Tukey with Galatasary during the 2017-18 WNBA offseason. There, she averaged 8.4 points, 3.6 assists and 5.1 rebounds in 25 games and helped the team win the 2018 Women’s EuroLeague championship.

A 6-2 forward, Blicavs is coming off a 2019-20 season in the WNBL where she averaged 13.4 points and 7.0 rebounds in 25 games for the Southside Flyers. The stretch forward shot 37.1 percent (33-of-81) from three-point range on the season and helped the Flyers reach the WNBL championship where they lost to fellow training camp signee, Epoupa, and the UC Capitals. In addition to playing against Epoupa during the WNBL season, Blicavs also saw playing time against current Mercury players Sophie Cunningham and Brianna Turner.

Born in Australia, Blicavs has spent her entire professional career playing in the WNBL, having seen time with the Australian Institute of Sport, Dandenong Rangers and the Bendigo Spirit. She was part of her first WNBL championship team during the 2013-14 season with Bendigo, averaging 9.0 points and 3.7 rebounds in 26 games on the year.

Blicavs will be no stranger to Mercury head coach Sandy Brondello. After stints on the Australian Under-17 and Under-19 teams, the Aussie made her senior level debut with the Opals during the 2015 FIBA Oceania Championship, where the team went on to win the gold medal. From there, Blicavs was part of the Opals’ 2017 FIBA Asia Cup team that won the silver, as well as the 2019 FIBA Asia Cup squad, coached by Brondello.

Professional basketball returns to The Madhouse, as the Phoenix Mercury bring their quest for a record-tying fourth WNBA Championship to Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the original home of the Phoenix Suns. Join superstars Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner, Skylar Diggins-Smith and the X-Factor at one of basketball’s loudest venues.

Tickets Tickets can be purchased by calling 602.252.WNBA or by visiting PhoenixMercury.com.