Daniela Wallen

Daniela Wallen Morillo (born 4 April 1995) is a Venezuelan basketball player for Keflavík of the Úrvalsdeild kvenna and the Venezuela national team.[1][2] She played college basketball for Northwest Florida State College and Oklahoma City University and won the NAIA championship with the later in 2017.[3] Following her college career, she has played professionally in three continents. In 2018, she won the Paraguayan League championship with Sol de América Asunción and the following year she won the Finnish championship as a member of Peli-Karhut.

Daniela Wallen
No. 6 – Keflavík
PositionSmall forward / power forward
LeagueÚrvalsdeild kvenna
Personal information
Born (1995-04-04) 4 April 1995
Venezuela
NationalityVenezuelan
Listed height180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Career information
College
WNBA draft2017: undrafted
Playing career2017–present
Career history
2017–2018IK Eos
2018Geelong Supercats
2018Sol de América Asunción
2019Peli-Karhut
2019–presentKeflavík
Career highlights and awards
Medals
Women's basketball
Representing Venezuela Venezuela
South American Championship
Bronze medal – third place2014 AmbatoTeam
Silver medal – second place2016 BarquisimetoTeam

Early life

Wallen grew up in Venezuela where she played football in her youth. Her parents where both former basketball players, but she only started playing basketball with a youth team at the age of 15 and the same year she first played for one of Venezuela's youth national teams.[1]

College career

Wallen started her college career with Independence Community College in 2013. After having trouble adjusting to the new settings, mostly due to the language barrier as she spoke no English, Wallen transferred to Northwest Florida State College the following season.[1] During the 2014–2015 season, she was named First-team All-Panhandle Conference after averaging 15.4 points, 8.6 rebounds and 3.79 steals per game.[4] In 2015, she transferred again, this time to Oklahoma City University. During her first year, she averaged 19.6 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 3.3 steals per game and was named the Sooner Athletic Conference player of the year. The following season, she helped Oklahoma to win the NAIA championship while being named the Tournament MVP.[5]

Club career

Wallen's first professional stop was with IK Eos in the Basketligan dam during the 2017–2018 season where she averaged 16.4 points and 11.8 rebounds per game. In March 2018, she signed with the Geelong Supercats of the Australian SEABL.[6] After the SEABL season, she signed with Sol de América Asunción where she won the Paraguayan League championship with Sol de América Asunción and was named the Finals MVP in December the same year.[7]

In February 2019, Wallen joined Peli-Karhut of the Finnish Naisten Korisliiga. In April, she won the Finnish championship after Peli beat Catz Lappeenranta in the Finals.[8] In 2019, Wallen signed with Keflavík of the Icelandic Úrvalsdeild kvenna. She averaged 24.7 points, 13.1 rebounds and 4.9 assists during the 2019–20 season with Keflavík in the third place when the rest of the season was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic in Iceland. She re-signed with Keflavík[9] and had a stand-out second season,[10][11] averaging 25.6 points and league leading 17.0 rebounds per game and was named the Úrvalsdeild Foreign Player of the Year.[12]

In 2023, she was again named the Úrvalsdeild Foreign Player of the Year[13] after leading Keflavík to the Úrvalsdeild finals and averaging 20.4 points, 11.7 rebounds and 4.6 assists during the regular seasons and playoffs.

References
  1. Jóhann Páll Kristbjörnsson (2021). "Leikur körfubolta og sendir pening heim". Víkurfréttir (in Icelandic). Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  2. "Daniela Wallen se sumó a entrenamientos para el Suramericano Femenino de Baloncesto". Correo del Orinoco (in Spanish). 13 May 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  3. "OCU Women Win NAIA National Championship". Oklahoma's News 4. 21 March 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  4. "Oklahoma City University Athletics - Daniela Wallen - 2016-17 - Oklahoma City University". ocusports.com. Oklahoma City University athletics. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  5. Joe Buettner (27 March 2017). "OCU women are champions sooner than expected". The Daily Oklahoman. p. 38. Retrieved 9 May 2021 – via Newspapers.com. closed access
  6. "Venezuelan first settles in at Supercats". Geelong Advertiser. 10 March 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  7. "Daniela Wallen, Campeona y MVP de la final". Diario Meridiano (in Spanish). 5 December 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  8. Raul Cedeño (22 April 2019). "La Venezolana Daniela Wallen se proclama campeona en Finlandia". Cancha Latina (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  9. Sindri Sverrisson (19 April 2020). "Keflavík heldur Wallen - Samið við þjálfara og 13 leikmenn". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  10. Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson (18 February 2021). "Með hærra framlag en restin af liðinu hennar til samans". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  11. Atli Freyr Arason (21 January 2021). "Daniela: Þær treysta mér og ég treysti þeim". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  12. "Hörður og Sara kjörin best". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 29 June 2021. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  13. "Kári og Eva bestu leikmenn tímabilsins". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 19 May 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
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