INDIANAPOLIS – At the age of 10, IUPUI sophomore forward Nevena Markovic moved to Illinois from Serbia and has since become an integral part of the resurgence of the IUPUI women’s basketball program under head coach Austin Parkinson. This summer, Markovic will embark on the opportunity of a lifetime when she will represent her native country as a part of the Serbian U20 women’s basketball team at the U20 European Championships.

Markovic will head to Europe towards the end of May and will play exhibition games for Serbia in Italy and Serbia, before beginning the championships in July. This year’s tournament will be held in Turkey from July 4-14.

“I am very happy and blessed to have this opportunity to play and represent my home country. It's been my dream ever since I was a little girl to represent my country and it is an awesome feeling that I finally get a chance to do that this summer,” Markovic said.

Markovic has basketball in her bloodlines and learned the game at a young age from her father, Zoran, who played professionally in Serbia. As a child, few girls played basketball, so Markovic actually played on an all-boys team.

After moving to the United States, the 6-4 Markovic went on to star at Glenbard South High School in Wheaton, Ill., where she was an all-state selection as a senior.

She signed with IUPUI in 2011, and proceeded to immediately make an impact during her freshman campaign averaging 8.9 ppg and 5.5 rpg en route to being named the Collegesportsmadness.com Summit League Freshman of the Year.

This past season, Markovic missed seven games during the first half of the season due to injury, but her re-entry into the lineup gave the Jaguars a boost down the stretch. She was arguably IUPUI’s most consistent player and during the Summit League Tournament averaging 11.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg and 2.0 bpg.

“We are thrilled for Nev that she gets to represent her home country of Serbia this summer in the U20 European Championships,” Parkinson said. “I think the opportunity to play against the best players in Europe will help elevate her game to another level.”