Written by Amanda Pavelka
The Indiana Women’s Basketball season unofficially tips off in 30 days with the Hoosiers’ first exhibition game. The Hoosiers will face Missouri S&T on Monday, October 27th at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers start the regular season in 38 days against Lipscomb on November 4th.
New for this season at Hoosier Huddle is the Countdown to Tip-off where will profile each of the men’s and women’s basketball players as we await the season. Today we introduce you to one of eight newcomers to the IU women’s basketball squad, Jade Ondineme.
Name: Jade Ondineme
Height/Weight: 6’3”
Hometown/High School: Orleans, France
Class: Junior
Position: Forward
Jade Ondineme will have the opportunity to represent France as an NCAA Divison I college athlete for Indiana women’s basketball this season. Ondineme officially signed with the Hoosiers as a junior college transfer in May and was Coach Teri Moren and staff’s final addition to the 2025-26 roster.
Ondineme transferred to Indiana as a junior off a NJCAA title winning season at Northwest Florida State College where she played in 65 games and started in 29 in two years, according to IUHoosiers.com. The 6-foot-3 forward averaged 6 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.1 assist per game and shot 51.1 percent from the field in her sophomore season.
Coach Moren discussed Jade’s transition from JuCo to Divison I athlete as a French native on The Dribble Drive Podcast, hosted by IU women’s basketball play-by-play voice Austin Render.
“There’s a little bit of a language, I wouldn’t say barrier, but in terms of verbiage, vocabulary, there’s been some learning there.” Moren explained. “In terms of how we do things, the pace that we play out every day, how we get from point A to point B, how quickly we transition. I think that’s one of the things she’s getting used to. There’s a transition when you go from offense to defense, but also from a water break back to the floor, from a timeout back to the court, all of it. So I think she’s learning the pace that we want to play at is maybe a little bit different than she’s used to, but she has caught up quickly.”
Moren said Ondineme had visa issues preventing her joining the team the final week of summer practice, but she joined the team and made it a priority to get caught up on strength and conditioning with IUWBB performance coach Kylie Durkee.
Even before practice began on Wednesday, September 24th, Moren told Render she was confident Ondineme would have a role in the front court in the upcoming season.
“(She’s) another five player for us that I think can give us really great minutes because of her size, because of her length. She just kind of has a nose for the vault as well.” Moren said on The Dribble Drive Podcast. “So, still has to learn and still has to grow and improve. I feel really comfortable and confident in our staff that as long as those players show up every day and want to do the work outside of practice, our kids always get better. I have great faith and confidence that Jade will be one of those that’ll just continue to get better.”
Get a glimpse of Jade Ondineme’s game with some highlights from 2024-25 season here.
The Hoosiers open the regular season vs Lipscomb at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on November 4th.