Nevriye Yılmaz

Nevriye Yılmaz

File:Nevriye Yılmaz.JPG
No. 11 – Galatasaray
Position	Center
League	TKBL Euroleague Women
Personal information
Born	(1980-01-16) January 16, 1980 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Nationality	Turkish-Bulgarian
Listed height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight	192 lb (87 kg)
Career information
Playing career	1997–present
Career history
1997–99	I.U.S.B.K.
1999-01	Galatasaray
2001–02	Apollon Ptolemaida
2002	Academic Plovdiv
2002–03	Termini di Mareze
2003–04	La Spezia Basket
2004–05	Pool Comense Como
2005–12	Fenerbahçe
2012–present	Galatasaray
Career highlights and awards
All tournament team (EuroBasket Women 2011)
Medals EuroBasket 2011 Poland Team 2013 France Team

Nevriye Yılmaz (pronounced [ˈnevɾiːye jɯɫˈmaz]; born June 16, 1980) is a Turkish professional female basketball player of Galatasaray. Yılmaz, who grew up in Bulgaria in a Turkish family, moved to İstanbul, Turkey with her parents when she was nine years old.

In 1997, she won the World High School Basketball Championship with Boğaziçi Lisesi.

Career in Europe

She began her basketball career with I.U.S.B.K. (1997–99) and then she played Galatasaray (1999-01) where she won her first Turkish Championship in Turkey.

She moved first to the Greek team Apollon Ptolemaida (2001–02) then later to the Bulgarian team Academic Plovdiv (2002). Yılmaz moved then to Italy to play for Termini di Mareze (2002–03), La Spezia Basket (2003–04) and Pool Comense Como (2004–05).

WNBA

Yılmaz is the first Turkish woman to play in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). In 1999, she participated in the Charlotte Sting's training camp, but was released before the season started. In 2000, she attended the training camp for the now-defunct Miami Sol, but was also released prior to the start of the regular season. Then in 2003, Yılmaz signed a free agent contract with the Phoenix Mercury and played five games for them. The following year, 2004, she played seven games for the San Antonio Silver Stars.

Fenerbahçe

In 2005, she returned home to play in Fenerbahçe Istanbul. Yılmaz is the pinnacle of Turkish women's basketball who has all the mental tools to become one of the great figures in her sport after transferred to Fenerbahçe Istanbul. Despite her star status, she is a player who is always thriving to become better and is never satisfied with what she has accomplished. After years, she is deadly in all aspects of her game. She is an adept passer from the post, a shooter and a banger inside. In addition, she is a voracious competitor and never backs away. But that passion, interestingly, comes with humility. She does not see herself as better than other players on the team and her main driving force is to not only get better personally but to improve as a team. All of her goods make her both club and international team's captain.

She won 2005 Europe Cup Ribaund Quenn and 2007 EuroLeague Women All-Star player honor.

Galatasaray

On 6 July 2012, she signed a two-year contract with Galatasaray Women’s Basketball Team.

National team

She participated at the 2005 Mediterranean Games in Almería, Spain and won a gold medal with Turkey national women's basketball team.

With more than 180 games (188 games until 7 December 2007) played Yılmaz the most capped national player or Turkey. She was a student in the Sports Academy at the Istanbul University.

Honors

• Turkish Championship
  • Galatasaray Istanbul (3): 2000, 2014, 2015
  • Fenerbahçe Istanbul (7): 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
• Turkish Cup
  • Fenerbahçe Istanbul (4): 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
• Turkish Presidents Cup
  • Fenerbahçe Istanbul (2): 2007, 2010
• Eurobasket
  • National team (1): 2011 (silver)
  • All tournament team, Eurobasket Women 2011

See also

• Turkish women in sports

External links

• WNBA Player Profile
• Player profil at fenerbahce.org
• Player profil at fibaeurope.com