Vanessa Panousis
Vanessa Panousis is an Australian professional basketball player with a career spanning elite junior, collegiate, and international competition.
She began her basketball journey at CYS Basketball Club before progressing through the Sydney Comets Basketball Association, then representing New South Wales at multiple national championships and winning Gold with the U’18 NSW Metro team. Vanessa represented Australia at the U17 and U19 World Championships, earning a bronze medal at the 2013 FIBA U19 World Championships, and later competed at the World University Games in 2015 and 2017.
From 2013 to 2017, Vanessa played at Virginia Tech Polytechnic University, where she became one of the most accomplished players in program history. A four-year starter, she finished as the school’s all-time leader in three-pointers made (269) and total starts (122), while ranking seventh all-time in scoring with 1,379 points. She earned multiple All-ACC Academic Team selections, ACC All-Tournament honors, and was named ACC Player of the Week and ESPNW National Player of the Week during her junior season.
Following her collegiate career, Vanessa has competed professionally in Australia and Europe, playing in the WNBL with the Adelaide Lightning and Sydney Flames, in the Greek WBC A1 League with Niki Lefkada, PAS Giannina, and Panserraikos, and domestically in NBL1 with the Sutherland Sharks and Sydney Comets.
Outside of basketball, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, traveling, going to the beach, has a passion for food—especially dessert—and has a strong interest in fashion.
Ness has been a guest co-host on many STB podcasts, with her deep connections within the Aussie basketball community bringing many personal stories of players to life.
Recently she has been working in recruitment and sales for AUSA Hoops and is also on the board for Tough4T Inc.
