12/05/2015
Paul Nilsen's Women's Basketball Worldwide
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Hanging up their basketball shoes

NEWCASTLE (Paul Nilsen's Women's Basketball Worldwide) - With every passing season, a number of players decide to call it a day and hang up their basketball shoes.

This year has been no different and I wanted to pay tribute to some of those players who are no longer going to be treading the boards.

In no particular order, Spain waved goodbye to a couple of long-serving national team stars of the past in the shape of CB Avenida duo Anna Montanana and Marta Fernandez.

Both had been craving a fairytale finish in terms of a EuroLeague Women Final Four slot and/or a Liga Femenina Championship, but they just fell short on both counts. Not that this in any way diminishes their highly impressive track records.

Montanana played in eight major tournaments for her country and averaged double-digits in seven of them which is magnificent productivity and she posted some really pivotal displays.

Meanwhile, Fernandez finished as the second top scorer in CB Avenida history and also excelled for her nation with three FIBA World Championship for Women tournaments, as well as appearances at EuroBasket Women and the 2004 Olympic Games.

Agnieszka Bibrzycka also didn't leave on the high point she had hoped for after a dismal EuroLeague Women Final Four and then Fenerbahce crashing out of the TKBL Finals at the Semi Final stage, with her Polish compatriot and head coach Jacek Winnicki being fired.

Nevertheless, Bibrzycka was a bonafide European star of the highest order - a former EuroLeague Women All-Star and champion, who was very much the Queen of Polish hoops and posted some huge stats for her national team.

One player I have always had a lot of time for and really enjoyed watching immensely was Andja Jelavic, who used her experience to help Croatia make history a few years ago when they bagged a first-ever Olympic spot.

Lovely to chat to off the court, speaking to her and Ana Lelas for FIBA in an interview at the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament was such a great memory for me as they really conveyed what it meant to them in trying to make it to London 2012.

One player who might not have attracted as much attention in her career but still deserves a big shout out is Eva Komplet of Slovenia, who may still play for her local club but certainly won't be playing international basketball anymore and she will be missed.

Women's basketball will certainly be much poorer for the loss of Katie Douglas after the five-time WNBA All-Star, 2012 Championship winner and league's eighth-leading scorer decided to call it a day after some 14 years.

Highly-decorated, a great shooter and all-round player, she also shone in EuroLeague Women for several years and was a seriously class act.

Finally, I wait with interest to see the deserved plaudits for a player who is one of the biggest legends to have ever played the women's game.

Maria Stepanova is almost unparalleled in what she has given us in terms of her eye-bulging international career which has just about spanned a couple of decades.

The Russian legend certainly deserves an entire column of her own!

Paul Nilsen

FIBA

FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

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Paul Nilsen

Paul Nilsen

As a women's basketball specialist for FIBA and FIBA Europe, Paul Nilsen eats, sleeps and breathes women’s hoops and is incredibly passionate about promoting the women’s game - especially at youth level. In Women’s Basketball Worldwide, Paul scours the globe for the very latest from his beloved women’s basketball family.