Ema Karim has emerged as a key player for the Hofstra University women’s basketball team this season. After only playing in 10 games last season, she has played 29 this year and started in 22. Her growth this season started last offseason, when she went home to Portugal for the summer.  

“The coaches gave me a paper about all the stuff that I had to improve for [the] next year, so I looked into that paper, and I worked over the summer,” Karim said. “I worked on shot selection, ball handling and defense.”

Karim was around the sport all summer. She has represented her home country of Portugal in international play for years, participating in the 2025 U19 International Basketball Federation (FIBA) World Cup, the 2024 U18 Women’s EuroBasket Tournament and the 2022 U16 Women’s European Championship. Last summer, she scored 5.4 points per game, while averaging 2.7 rebounds and two assists. While the consistent game reps helped her development, Karim was diligent to work on the areas that the coaching staff told her to improve on. 

“[I would] go to practice early and shoot with my friends,” Karim said. “I’d work on my [ball] handling. I was extra focused on my footwork and on my defense.”

Karim is incredibly close with her teammates in Portugal.

“We’re like a family over there because we have known each other from years of playing basketball,” Karim said. “It’s really fun being with your best friends over the summer and playing with them. And you get experience playing against other countries and in other countries, it’s great.”

Karim and her teammates had many great experiences while traveling for the national team, like  staying in a five-star hotel.

“It was our first time in a five-star hotel. There was a pool, so we were just all jumping in; it was a lot of fun,” Karim said. 

There have been plenty of good memories on the court, too. In this summer’s FIBA World Cup, Portugal took on Israel with a spot in the final eight on the line. In a back-and-forth game, which Portugal won 83-80, Karim scored 17 points. The win put Portugal into the final eight for the first time.

Playing for the Portuguese National Team brings out a sense of national pride in Karim.

“[Playing for Portugal] means a lot, it’s such a small country and women’s basketball is growing over there,” Karim said. “I’m really proud to represent Portugal.”

Basketball is a rapidly growing game in Portugal. Not only are their international teams becoming more successful, but they are now sending players to the National Basketball Association (NBA). Neemias Queta is the first Portuguese player in the NBA. The Boston Celtics starting center won a championship in 2024 and has inspired basketball players throughout Portugal.

“[Queta] is an inspiration to the whole country,” Karim said. “I know his sister, I played with her, so I got to see him personally one time, it was really awesome.”

While Karim has continued to play at home, she realized in her senior year of high school that she wanted to play college basketball in the United States. Karim was late to the game; the recruitment process usually starts in a player’s sophomore year, sometimes even earlier. Nevertheless, Karim started looking, and it wasn’t long before she popped up on Hofstra head coach Danielle Santos Atkinson’s radar.

“I got a message from [Santos] saying she was interested in me, [asking] if we could talk,” Karim said. “We had some Zoom meetings after that with my parents and my brother. Two talks in, and I knew I was going to Hofstra.”

Karim is close with her family, so leaving for America was difficult, even if it meant realizing a dream.

“It’s always hard leaving your family, you’ve always been with them,” Karim said. “But I’ve always dreamed about playing in the United States, so sometimes you’ve just got to do what you’ve got to do.”

Even though Karim is separated from her family and friends by an ocean, she still talks to them all the time.

“I call my mother and father almost every day when I’m getting ready for school. When I’m bored, I’ll just call them, my brother too,” Karim said. “[My friends] and I are just always talking and checking on each other.”

When she came to Hofstra, the culture shock Karim experienced was eased by her new teammates.

“At first I was speechless about everything,” Karim said. “The culture and the language was all different, [and] my teammates were helping me through it.”

Because of her commitments to team Portugal, Karim missed summer practices with the Pride. Despite her late arrival, her new teammates welcomed her with open arms. 

“I was the only one who didn’t know the people, but my teammates made it easier,” Karim said. “They came to me, they were talking to me, they were just inviting me to stuff.”

Karim returned to Long Island the day after Portugal’s elimination from the FIBA World Cup and immediately rejoined the team. Being with the team for the second half of the summer was important for Karim.

“I felt a really big difference because I feel like I’m kind of an introverted person. When I came here for the summer, I already knew half the team,” Karim said. 

Before Hofstra’s game on Feb. 22, Santos mentioned that Karim has come out of her shell this year. Last season, the coaching staff knew that they’d need to help Karim be less quiet, and they got creative.

“Last year after the season, [Lance] White made me sing in front of everyone,” Karim said. 

While Karim was able to avoid singing for the team, she understood what White was doing.

“They were just trying to get me out of my shell,” Karim said. “I needed to, and that made me a better player.”

Santos has had a hand in bringing Karim outside of her comfort zone as well.

“There was a meeting we had where she looked at me and said, ‘I’m not going to say anything, you just talk,’ And I was just like, ‘What? I’m going to talk for the whole meeting?’ She said, ‘Yeah, I want to hear you more,’’’ Karim said. 

Karim has become a vocal member of the Pride this season and has been a huge reason for their late run of five of eight wins to close out conference play. With the Coastal Athletic Association tournament on the horizon, Karim thinks that the Pride are contenders for the title.

“We can win,” Karim said. “We’ve just got to stay locked in and do the job we did until now. Stay connected, stay as a team and have a bond [and] that will show on the court.”