Mikaela Ruef (born 20 October 1990) is an American-Australian professional basketball player. She played in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) between 2014 and 2025.
Early life Ruef was born in Dayton, Ohio. She attended Beavercreek High School in Beavercreek, Ohio.
College career Ruef played five years of college basketball for the Stanford Cardinal. She was part of Stanford's 2009–10 NCAA runner-up team as a freshman. In 2011–12, she appeared in three games before missing the rest of the season due to a foot injury. As a redshirt senior in 2013–14, she was named All-Pac-12 honorable mention.
Professional career WNBL and France Ruef made her professional debut with the Sydney Uni Flames of the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) in Australia during the 2014–15 season. She joined the Adelaide Lightning for the 2015–16 WNBL season, and the Canberra Capitals for the 2016–17 WNBL season.
For the 2017–18 season, Ruef played for Toulouse Métropole Basket in the French LF2. In 24 games, she averaged 17.5 points, 12.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.7 steals per game.
After not playing in 2018–19, Ruef joined the Capitals for the 2019–20 WNBL season, but was unable to play due to immigration delays and awaiting permanent residency. On 25 January 2020, after leaving Australia, Ruef had a one-game stint with Charnay Basket Bourgogne Sud of the LFB.
Ruef re-joined the Capitals for the 2020 WNBL Hub season in Queensland, playing 14 games. In January 2021, she re-joined Charnay for the rest of the 2020–21 season.
Ruef re-joined the Capitals for the 2021–22 WNBL season.
With the Townsville Fire during the 2022–23 WNBL season, she helped the team win the WNBL championship. She returned to the Fire for the 2023–24 WNBL season.
Ruef joined the Sydney Flames for the 2024–25 WNBL season. She played seven games to start the season but then missed the rest of the season due to injury.
Australian state leagues In 2015, Ruef played for the Launceston Tornadoes of the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL). She was All-SEABL Team and SEABL Defensive Player of the Year. In 23 games, he averaged 16.1 points, 15.0 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. She returned to the Tornadoes for the 2016 season, averaging 16.0 points, 16.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 25 games. With the Hobart Chargers in the 2017 SEABL season, she averaged 15.1 points, 12.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 11 games.
Ruef joined the Logan Thunder of the Queensland Basketball League (QBL) for the 2019 season. She was named QBL Most Valuable Player and QBL All-League Team. In 2020, she played for the Thunder in the Queensland State League (QSL), where she led the team to the QSL championship. She played for the Thunder, now in the NBL1 North, in the 2021 NBL1 season. She helped the Thunder win the 2021 NBL1 North championship.
With the Thunder in the 2022 NBL1 season, Ruef averaged 20.1 rebounds per game and had three triple-doubles. She scored 50 points on 17 July. With the Thunder in the 2023 NBL1 season, Ruef averaged 22.6 rebounds per game. She had 13 games recording 20 rebounds or more, including a 35-rebound game. She recorded one triple-double for the season.
With the North Gold Coast Seahawks in the NBL1 North in the 2024 NBL1 season, Ruef averaged 21.3 rebounds per game. She had 11 games recording 20 rebounds or more, including a 33-rebound game. She recorded three triple-double for the season.
Ruef had a two-game stint with the Cairns Dolphins in the 2025 NBL1 North season.
Stanford statistics Source YearTeamGPPointsFG%3P%FT%RPGAPGSPGBPGPPG2009-10Stanford231940.012.540.00.70.3 - -0.82010-11Stanford347240.616.752.02.91.40.40.32.12011-12Stanford30 - - -2.30.30.3 -0.02012-13Stanford3615140.98.352.86.62.20.50.64.22013-14Stanford3726241.921.759.09.33.31.00.47.1Career Totals13350441.016.455.45.31.90.50.33.8
References
External links
NBL1 profile Stanford Cardinal bio French League profile Basketball Rookie Me Central profile SEABL stats