Sophomore guard Syla Swords announced her arrival to college basketball emphatically last season for the Michigan women’s basketball team, scoring 27 points against the then-defending champions, South Carolina in a six-point loss.
She similarly made herself known against No. 1 Connecticut, this season’s defending champion, scoring 29 points, knocking down eight three-pointers and nearly helping the Wolverines pull off the upset. Swords went blow-for-blow with star guard Azzi Fudd down the stretch
— including three three-pointers within 36 seconds — to bring Michigan within reach, yet ultimately falling short in a three-point loss.
Swords’ high-profile performances have put her on the map nationally, delivering when the lights shine brightest against the toughest opponents. A 6-foot guard from Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, she played on the world’s highest stage at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She’s mainly known as a knockdown shooter, starting each game she’s played for the Wolverines.
At 33.7 percent on the season from range, including 40.2 percent overall, Swords is certainly a high-caliber shooter. She’s been named to the Big Ten All-Freshman and Second Teams, with more nominations likely to come, as she’s already been named to the midseason top 10 list for the Ann Myers Drysdale Award for the nation’s top shooting guard.
But Swords is much more than just a shooter. She’s a dynamic three-level scorer, a defender, and most importantly for the Wolverines, a leader from day one.
“I just have so much confidence in Syla and her unselfishness to do whatever the team needs,” sophomore guard Olivia Olson said Feb. 26. “And I know every time the ball is in her hand, it’s going to go in. She’s the best shooter in the country and one of the best leaders in the country. She just is the ultimate team player and leads our team confidently. We wouldn’t be us without Syla.”
Always leading the team, circling her teammates up on the court between plays and giving an encouraging word, Swords is becoming a vocal leader. She’s leveraged her experience to her team’s advantage, one of the loudest voices in the gym since day one.
“You see she’s scoring 27 points on the court, but you don’t see what happens off the court and how good of a teammate she is, and how she’s cheering everyone on every day,” former Wolverines guard Jordan Hobbs said Nov. 4, 2025. “She’s already a leader on our team as a freshman, and just her experience that she has with the Olympics, she came in the first day and you hear her voice, and she’s the loudest in the gym.”
Voice often hoarse after games from cheering on her teammates or communicating on defense, Swords impacts the game on all fronts. She’s the player diving around for loose balls, darting forward to knock a pass free or secure a long rebound. She’s bought in fully to Michigan’s intangible focus of being the “hardest-working team in America,” often winning the team’s practice points queen award for hustle plays.
“Swords is an excellent player, her basketball IQ, her collective pace in which she plays the game over and over again, her ability to shoot the ball, I mean, she’s just really, really good,” UCLA head coach Cori Close said Feb. 8.
Swords scored 31 points against the then-No. 1 Bruins her freshman year, again shining with the lights brightest. She’s always circled on opponents’ scouting reports as a shooting threat, but she impacts the game on more fronts. Swords herself will tell you that she’s made Canadian national teams because of her defense, not just her scoring. It’s what’s earned her the responsibility of guarding the opponent’s top or second-best guard night in and night out, from USC’s JuJu Watkins to Vanderbilt’s Mikayla Blakes to UConn’s Azzi Fudd.
“She’s always been a two way player,” senior guard Brooke Quarles Daniels said Jan. 25. “… She’s always guarding a top scorer. So it’s not just today (against Jazzy Davidson), I mean, you look at the matchup versus Vandy, she was guarding Blakes. Look at the matchup last year, she was guarding JuJu, and she held her, you know, to under her average. So, I mean, it’s not just like a one time game. She’s been a defender.”
Stepping up for Michigan on both sides of the ball, Swords is a reliable presence and makes tough plays look routine.
Olson and Swords committed to Michigan together on a mission to create something new, something lasting and something that’s never been done before. Often grouped together, the duo have led the Wolverines to national prominence and a consistent top-10 ranking in the AP poll, despite possessing talent that could’ve taken them to any traditional women’s basketball powerhouse in the nation.
“They’re relentless, they’re passionate, they’re driven,” Barnes Arico said Feb. 25. “But they want Michigan to be great. They want our team to be great. … And like Liv spoke to, Syla’s taken on a leadership role as a sophomore on a top 10 team in the country. That’s pretty incredible.”
Despite being a sophomore, Swords plays years beyond her age on the court. She’s a leader for her teammates, and an example for girls in basketball. Each home game at Crisler Center, there’s fans donning her No. 12 jersey and holding signs sharing they’ve driven from Ontario or further to see her play. Swords recognizes her platform, and uses it to be a game-changing representative of the sport. Barnes Arico teaches players about the “Powerful Women’s Club,” a mantra and mentality to support other women, and Swords is an excellent example.
“There’s a standard we carry with having the platform we do, coming out and seeing all the young girls, all the young girls’ teams, coming to watch us play,” Swords said Feb. 4 on National Girls and Women in Sports Day. “They’re watching how we interact with each other, how we interact with other fans, while we’re posting on social media. So just knowing that we’re always an example for someone, you want to be that powerful woman, confident woman example, so that they can see that and be like, ‘Oh, I want to do that too.’ ”
With the Wolverines, Swords is ever-elevating the standard of play and poise. She’s the first to praise her teammates, advocating for Quarles Daniels’ Defensive Player of the Year campaign or applauding senior guard Macy Brown on a career-defining overtime performance. She’s the last to brag, always seeing ways to improve her play.
Beyond just a shooter, Swords is a Swiss army knife in Michigan’s arsenal, equipped for all aspects of what it means to be a basketball player.
