BC UMMC Ekaterinburg ( Russian : БК «УГМК» ) is a Russian professional women's basketball team based in Yekaterinburg competing in the Russian Premier League , and until February 2022 in FIBA Europe 's EuroLeague Women . Founded in 1938 as Zenit Sverdlovsk , the club had its name changed to Uralmash Sverdlovsk in 1960.
47-472: UMMC may refer to: UMMC Ekaterinburg , a Russian professional women's basketball team Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company , Verkhnyaya Pyshma, Russia University of Mississippi Medical Center , Jackson, Mississippi, US Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title UMMC . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
94-563: A 25-year sentence. In reaction to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, in February 2022 EuroLeague Women suspended all Russian clubs, including UMMC. Dmitrii Donskov Courtney Vandersloot Courtney Vandersloot (born February 8, 1989) is an American basketball point guard for the New York Liberty of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and for Fenerbahçe in
141-568: A career-high 15 assists in a 114–99 victory over the Dallas Wings . She also averaged a career-high in scoring. Despite these performances, the Sky missed out on the playoffs yet again, they finished 13–21. In the 2019 season , Vandersloot continued to exceed assists records. She broke her own league record with 9.1 assists per game. She was selected to the 2019 WNBA All-Star Game , making it her second All-Star appearance. Her season performance would help
188-557: A closed hearing along with player Evgenia Belyakova . From overseas, Taurasi praised the support. On August 4, 2022, Griner was sentenced to 9 years in prison and there was concern that Russia would hold her hostage as a response to the Western sanctions imposed against Russia in response to the Russian invasion. Ultimately, she was released on December 8 in a prisoner exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout , who had served 10 years of
235-468: A friend to the Gonzaga University girls' basketball camp. She would say about the trip in 2011, "I just fell in love with this place. I felt so comfortable here." The Gonzaga women's basketball staff was equally enthusiastic about her, except for head coach Kelly Graves , who had little opportunity to see her during the camp. Graves would finally get to see Vandersloot at length in her junior year, on
282-412: A neighborhood with many children her age, and said in a 2011 interview that "all we did was play sports, all sports." Her father built a sports court with a basketball goal behind the family house, but she almost never played there, choosing instead to play at a hoop in front of a neighbor's house where she could easily be seen by other children in the neighborhood. She regularly played against boys. During
329-603: A school record in assists with 239; at the end of the regular season, her average of 7.3 per game led the conference, and she was also third in the conference in scoring at 16.4 per game. Vandersloot won the first of what would be three WCC Player of the Year awards. The Bulldogs went on to win the WCC tournament , with Vandersloot named tournament MVP. In the NCAA tournament , the Zags defeated Xavier for
376-520: A season of milestones. She led the WCC in both scoring and assists on the way to a second straight unbeaten season in conference play. Vandersloot was named WCC Player of the Year for an unprecedented third time. The Zags again won the WCC Tournament, and Vandersloot was named tournament MVP for the third straight time, also becoming the first women's player in WCC history to win that honor three times. In
423-488: A senior, averaging 26 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, and 5 steals while leading Kentwood to a third-place finish in the state tournament; their only loss was in the state semifinals. She scored 113 points in the tournament, one shy of the state record for a girls' tournament, and was named MVP. Vandersloot was also consensus first-team all-state, and was named the state's player of the year by the Seattle Times . Vandersloot
470-514: The COVID-19 pandemic . Vandersloot would average a career-high in scoring and once again set a new record for assists per game with 10, while playing and starting all 22 games. The Sky finished as the number 6 seed with a 12–10 record, but were eliminated by the Connecticut Sun in the first round elimination game. In the 2021 season , Vandersloot started all 32 games for the Sky and once again led
517-622: The EuroLeague Women . Drafted by the Chicago Sky with the third pick in the 2011 WNBA draft , she was selected as an All-Star and named to the All-Rookie Team in her rookie year. She was named an All-Star again in 2019, 2021 and 2023, and led the Sky to their first WNBA Championship in 2021 . She led the WNBA in assists in 2014 and for five consecutive seasons during 2017–2021, and holds
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#1732891970102564-467: The Euroleague in its debut season, becoming the first Russian team to win the top European trophy. The team also defended its national title, making it a double. UMMC wasn't able to win the championship in the following five seasons with the rise of VBM-SGAU Samara and Spartak Moscow Region . In 2009 it began a new successful period, winning three doubles in a row. Spartak ultimately blocked its path to
611-639: The Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award as the top NCAA Division I women's player no taller than 5'8" (1.73 m) and the prestigious Nancy Lieberman Award as the top player at her position in Division I women's basketball. Vandersloot is also the first Division I player, male or female, to have accumulated 2,000 points and 1,000 assists in a career. Born in the Seattle suburb of Kent, Washington to parents who both worked for Boeing , Vandersloot grew up in
658-601: The NCAA tournament , the Bulldogs were a No. 11 seed, but had the advantage of playing their first-round and potential second-round games at their home court of McCarthey Athletic Center . They would take full advantage of their home court in the first two rounds. The Zags, seeded No. 11 in their region, opened the tournament with a 92–86 upset of Iowa , with Vandersloot scoring a career-high 34 points. In their second-round game against No. 3 seed UCLA , Vandersloot finished with 29 points and 17 assists, one assist shy of
705-537: The 2011 NCAA tournament and ending her Gonzaga career with 366. However, she was seen as likely to be one of the top seven picks, and was ultimately picked third overall by the Chicago Sky. One indicator of her likely draft position was that Indiana Fever coach Lin Dunn , whose team needed depth at point guard going into the 2011 season , signed Shannon Bobbitt in February, convinced that Vandersloot would be picked before
752-427: The Bulldogs' next game, a 76–69 win over Louisville , Vandersloot broke the Division I women's record for assists in a season previously held by Suzie McConnell . She finished with 29 points, 7 assists, and 7 steals as the Zags became the lowest-seeded team ever to reach a regional final in the women's tournament. Their tournament run, and Vandersloot's college career, would end one game later as Stanford would defeat
799-536: The EuroLeague championship, also winning the title in 2018, 2019, and 2021. Ekaterinburg won five EuroLeague titles between 2013 and 2021. By 2022, the team was owned by Iskander Makhmudov . After the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, American-Hungarians Courtney Vandersloot (who led the team in assists) and Allie Quigley (who was second on the team in points), Bahamian-Bosnian Jonquel Jones (who led
846-526: The Euroleague final, defeating UMMC in the Final Four's semi-finals in all four seasons 2008–11. Olaf Lange was head coach of UMMC Ekaterinburg for six years, during which time they had two FIBA EuroLeague titles. American Olympian Brittney Griner began playing with Ekaterinburg in the WNBA offseason in 2014. American Diana Taurasi of the WNBA played with the team for ten years. In February 2015, it
893-482: The Fever's turn at #9. John Stockton gave Vandersloot high praise, stating, "I don't want to dramatize it too much but she's like Gretzky in hockey. There is something that separates Courtney from others." In her rookie season , she became the Sky's regular starter at the point, ultimately starting 26 of the team's 34 games. Her average of 3.7 assists per game (apg) was 11th in the league and second among rookies. She
940-536: The Minnesota Lynx. Courtney dedicated the season to her mother, Jan Vandersloot, who passed away mid-summer 2024. In 2011, she signed with the Turkish club Beşiktaş . Because the WNBA season is held in the northern hemisphere summer, the traditional offseason for basketball throughout the world, many of the league's players participate in overseas leagues during the traditional season and return to their WNBA teams in
987-632: The Phoenix Mercury in four games to win their first championship. Across the 10 games in the 2021 postseason, she recorded 10.2 assists and 13 points per game. After the 2022 season, Vandersloot became a free agent and signed with the New York Liberty in February 2023. The New York Liberty placed second in the WNBA to the Las Vegas Aces in 2023. In 2024, the Liberty won the WNBA Championship over
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#17328919701021034-405: The Sky finished 12–22, missing out on the playoffs for the first time in four years. In the 2018 season , Vandersloot broke the single-season record for assists and finished off the season with 258 assists and her own assists per game record with 8.6 apg. On July 20, 2018, Vandersloot became the seventh player in league history to post a triple-double, she scored 13 points along with 10 rebounds and
1081-539: The Sky return to the playoffs with a 20–14 record, earning the number 5 seed. In the first-round elimination game, the Sky defeated the Phoenix Mercury 105–76 to advance. In the second-round elimination game, the Sky were defeated by the Las Vegas Aces 93–92 after a late game desperation half-court shot by Dearica Hamby . In the 2020 season , the season was shortened to 22 games in a bubble at IMG Academy due to
1128-538: The Zags 83–60. While she finished with 25 points, only four came in the second half. In addition to her other milestones during the season, she also broke the Gonzaga single-season scoring record. Vandersloot became one of the most decorated players of the 2010–11 season. She won the women's Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award as the top Division I player no taller than 5'8" (1.73 m), and the Nancy Lieberman Award as
1175-562: The Zags selling out the McCarthey Athletic Center twice before the NCAA tournament. On February 11, 2023, Vandersloot had her number retired, becoming the first Gonzaga women's basketball player to receive the honor. NCAA records: Vandersloot was widely considered to be one of the top prospects in the 2011 WNBA draft . Her relatively small size had been a subject of concern, as was her defense—despite averaging 4.5 steals per game in
1222-488: The all-time WNBA records for highest assists-per-game in a season (9.1) and highest career assists-per-game (6.7). During her college career at Gonzaga University , she was the only women's player in West Coast Conference history to be named the conference's player of the year three times, and also the only player to be named MVP of the WCC women's tournament three times. In her final season at Gonzaga, she won
1269-685: The club had its name changed to Uralmash Sverdlovsk in 1960, like other teams from the city such as FC Ural Sverdlovsk Oblast . Four years later Uralmash reached the Soviet Top Division . In 1973 and 1974 it attained two 3rd spots, the club's best results in the Soviet era. After the club's owner Uralmash was merged into the conglomerate OMZ , the club was bought in 2000 by the newly formed company Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (UMMC), adopting its current name. UMMC Ekaterinburg in 2002 won its first national championship. The following year it won
1316-463: The day before the 2006 Washington Class 4A state tournament. He offered her a scholarship after seeing her practice, even though he did not stay for the tournament. That season, she had averaged more than 18 points and 7 assists as she led Kentwood to its first state tournament appearance; they would lose in the second round of the tournament to Spokane's University High , led by future Tennessee star Angie Bjorklund . After that season, Vandersloot
1363-508: The first Gonzaga player so honored, and the 10-member State Farm Coaches All-America team, another first for a WCC player. Her impact on the Gonzaga program can be measured by another statistic—home attendance. The year before she arrived in Spokane , the Bulldogs averaged 1,492 with a team that would make its first NCAA tournament appearance. By her junior year, attendance had risen to 2,935, and rose again to 3,824 in her senior season, with
1410-455: The first time Vandersloot led the league in assists per game (5.7). In the 2015 season , Vandersloot led the league in total assists (but came in second in assists-per-game to Candace Parker ). In the 2017 season , she led the league in assists for the second time in her career, setting the single-season league record for assists per game at 8.1 apg and the record for most assists over a 15-game stretch with 149. However, despite these efforts,
1457-409: The first time, she hoped that she would reach his voice mail so she wouldn't have to talk. Vandersloot eventually worked with Stockton throughout her Gonzaga career. As a freshman in 2007–08, she was the West Coast Conference newcomer of the year and named to the 10-member All-WCC first team after averaging 10.3 points, 5.7 assists, and 1.9 steals per game entering the WCC tournament , finishing in
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1504-464: The league with 8.6 assists per game. The Sky finished the season as the sixth seed with a 16–16 record, but went on to a successful run in the playoffs, winning two single-elimination games and a semifinals series against the first-seeded Connecticut Sun to reach the Finals for the first time since 2014. In the 2021 WNBA Finals , Vandersloot recorded 12.5 assists and 11.5 points per game, as the Sky defeated
1551-536: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=UMMC&oldid=1171045814 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages UMMC Ekaterinburg In reaction to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine , in February 2022 EuroLeague Women suspended all Russian clubs including UMMC. Founded in 1938 as Zenit Sverdlovsk,
1598-414: The program's first NCAA Tournament win before narrowly losing in the second round to Pitt . As a junior in 2009–10, Vandersloot led Division I in assists, averaging 9.4 per game, while leading the Zags to an unbeaten record in conference play. During that season, she broke her own school record for assists in a season with 321, and also broke the Gonzaga and WCC records for career assists. Vandersloot
1645-519: The record for a Division I tournament game, as the Zags took down the Bruins 89–75. During that game, she became the first player in Division I history to amass 2,000 career points and 1,000 career assists. The win advanced them to the Sweet Sixteen for the second straight year, and to a regional tournament that would be held less than two miles (3 km) from the Gonzaga campus at Spokane Arena . During
1692-468: The summer. In February 2022, after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine , she left UMMC Ekaterinburg in the Russian Women's Basketball Premier League . In April 2022, she joined Hungarian club Sopron Basket for the 2022–23 European season. In January 2023, she signed with Fenerbahçe and left at end of the season. On September 16, 2024, it was announced that Vandersloot would appear and play in
1739-650: The team in points and rebounds), and Spanish player Alba Torrens left the team. Seven days earlier, on February 17, UMMC player and American two-time Olympic champion Brittney Griner was arrested on drug charges in Russia by the Russian Federal Security Service . Griner was detained while returning to Russia to play with UMMC Ekaterinburg. In July 2022, it was reported that Griner's team captain and club director had testified on her behalf during one of several hearings, testifying to her good character in
1786-662: The third grade, she wrote a school paper about her dreams of one day playing in the WNBA . While Vandersloot regularly played basketball and many other sports as a child—she was also on a fast-pitch softball team that was runner-up in a Washington state tournament at age 11— her favorite sport was soccer; she had a poster of Mia Hamm on her bedroom wall. She did not concentrate on basketball until high school: I grew up wanting to go to North Carolina because of Mia Hamm. Once I got into high school and basketball started interfering with club soccer I found I dreaded going to soccer practice. I
1833-519: The top five in the WCC in the latter two categories while the Zags went 13–1 in conference play and earned the tournament's top seed. However, the Bulldogs lost in the WCC final to San Diego and ultimately missed out on the NCAA Tournament, playing instead in the WNIT . They defeated UC Davis in the first round before falling to Colorado in the second round. In her 2008–09 sophomore season, she set
1880-428: The top point guard in Division I women's basketball. She was also named to multiple All-America teams. The AP named her a second-team All-America; she became the first women's player in WCC history to be named to that specific team. She also was named to the five-woman Wooden All-America Team, another honor never before achieved by a WCC player. Finally, she was named to the 10-player USBWA All-America team, becoming
1927-489: Was again named both WCC Player of the Year and WCC Tournament MVP while leading the Bulldogs to a second consecutive WCC Tournament title. In the NCAA tournament , Vandersloot led the Zags one round farther than in 2009, upsetting No. 2 seed (and 2011 champion ) Texas A&M before losing in the Sweet Sixteen to the Xavier team they had knocked out the year before. Her senior year at Gonzaga, 2010–11, can be summed up as
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1974-442: Was also named as an Eastern Conference reserve for the 2011 WNBA All-Star Game , and was one of the five members of the 2011 All-Rookie Team , gaining 10 of a possible 11 votes from the league's head coaches. She became a regular starter for the Sky in subsequent seasons, and helped lead the team to the 2014 WNBA Finals against the Phoenix Mercury in her fourth season, but the Sky were swept 3–0. The 2014 season also marked
2021-526: Was asked by many people if she would consider Washington or another Pac-10 school, but decided against it after a Pac-10 assistant told Hennig she was too small. She would eventually sign with Gonzaga in November 2006, during her senior year at Kentwood; she noted in 2011, "I wasn't really being highly recruited and I just didn't want to go through the stressful recruiting process, so I committed early to Gonzaga." Vandersloot took her game to another level as
2068-420: Was having so much fun developing my game. I just fell in love with it. Vandersloot became a basketball star at Kentwood High School in her hometown. Her coach, Keith Hennig, a former player at Central Washington University who is 6 inches taller than Vandersloot, regularly played one-on-one against her either before or after the team's practice. He would later say, "I did not take it easy on her at all. I
2115-416: Was more physical than anything she's ever been used to. At times, I wasn't too nice. I would ride her and foul her. I'd put my hand in her face and she would whine and complain about fouls. I'd say, 'There's no fouls out here.' " She eventually reached the point where she regularly beat her coach off the dribble. A pivotal moment in her life came during the summer before her sophomore year, when she went with
2162-473: Was rated as the No. 64 national prospect, and No. 35 among guards, by Scout.com . By her own admission, Vandersloot came to Gonzaga as a shy freshman. During that first season, Graves suggested that she call the school's greatest point guard in history for advice— Hall of Famer John Stockton . Vandersloot would recall that it "took me a couple of weeks to build up," and when she finally called Stockton for
2209-461: Was reported that Taurasi was resting for the summer and sitting out the 2015 WNBA season at the request of UMMC Ekaterinburg, and was paid a bonus by the Russian team larger than her WNBA salary just to rest. In 2015, Taurasi was reportedly paid US$ 1.5 million per season, significantly higher than the pay in the WNBA. She left the Ekaterinburg team at the end of 2017. In 2016, UMMC Ekaterinburg won
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