Linda Stefánsdóttir

Linda Stefánsdóttir (born 28 June 1972) is an Icelandic former basketball player and a former member of the Icelandic national basketball team. She played 14 seasons in the Úrvalsdeild kvenna, winning the Icelandic championship and the Icelandic Basketball Cup in 1999 and 2002. In 2001 she was named one of the twelve players of the Icelandic basketball team of the 20th century by the Icelandic Basketball Federation.[1] She was one of the premium defenders during her career, leading the Úrvalsdeild in steals four times.[2]

This is an Icelandic name. The last name is patronymic, not a family name; this person is referred to by the given name Linda.
Linda Stefánsdóttir
Personal information
Born (1972-06-28) 28 June 1972
Iceland
NationalityIcelandic
Listed height172 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Career information
Playing career1987–2002
PositionGuard
Career history
1987–1993ÍR
1993–1995Valur
1995–1996ÍR
1996–2002KR
Career highlights and awards
Career Úrvalsdeild kvenna statistics
Points3,306 (13.8 ppg)
Games240
Medals
Women's basketball
Representing  Iceland
Games of the Small States of Europe
Silver medal – second place1989 CyprusTeam
Bronze medal – third place1991 AndorraTeam
Silver medal – second place1993 MaltaTeam
Silver medal – second place1995 LuxembourgTeam
Gold medal – first place1997 IcelandTeam
FIBA European Championship for Small Countries
Gold medal – first place 1996 Malta National Team

Early life

Linda grew up in Vík í Mýrdal where she competed in track and field.[3] She was introduced to basketball at the age of fourteen when she moved to Reykjavík.[4]

Career

Linda debuted with ÍR on 19 October 1987, scoring 8 points in ÍR's 46–43 loss against ÍS.[5] After her fourth season, she was named the Domestic Player of the Year.[6]

Linda led the league in scoring during the 1992–1993 season, averaging 20.9 points per game,[7] helping the team finish second in the league behind Keflavík.[8] For her effort, she was named the Domestic Player of the Year for the second time in her career.[9]

She left ÍR prior to the 1993–1994 season along with many of her teammates, due to their disfaction with the club's lack of interest in the women's team, and joined Valur.[10] During her second season with Valur, Linda averaged 19.5 points, and league leading 4.1 assists and 6.9 steals.[11]

After one season back with ÍR, where she averaged 17.1 points and led the league with 5.2 assists and 6.3 steals,[11] Linda transferred to KR in October 1996.[12]

In 1999, Linda won her first national championship[13] and first Icelandic Basketball Cup after KR swept the season, winning all 25 regular season and playoff games, and all 3 cup games.[14]

On 24 February 2000, Linda injured her knee in a game against Keflavík.[15] The injury was severe[16] and she ended missing both the rest of the season and the 2000–2001 season.[17] She returned to the court on 7 December 2001, 21-months after the injury.[18]

On 9 February 2002, she won the Icelandic Basketball Cup for the second time after KR beat Njarðvík 81–74 in the cup final.[19]

In April 2002, Linda helped KR overcome a 0–2 deficit against ÍS in the Úrvalsdeild finals to win the national championship for the second year in a row.[20][21]

In 2003 she had a brief comeback with KR when she appeared in one game during the pre-season Reykjavík Tournament, scoring 2 points.[22][23]

Úrvalsdeild statistics
† Denotes seasons in which Linda won the national championship
* Led the league

Regular season statistics
Year Team GP MPG 2P% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1987–88 ÍR 17---.474----7.5
1988–89 ÍR 18---.479----14.8
1989–90 ÍR 18---.515----14.7
1990–91 ÍR 15---.600----14.1
1991–92 ÍR 20---.392----17.7
1992–93 ÍR 15---.462----20.9*
1993–94 Valur 18---.618----15.6
1994–95 Valur 24-.445.242.6057.74.1*6.9*0.519.5
1995–96 ÍR 17-.484.192.7116.35.2*6.3*0.617.1
1996–97 KR 1420.5.500.120.6905.82.95.2*0.416.5
1997–98 KR 1422.1.435.000.5864.42.02.70.16.9
1998–99† KR 2026.9.546.000.5785.81.44.4*0.610.2
1999–00 KR 1622.5.439.300.4444.52.84.20.39.1
2001–02† KR 1418.0.404.176.6363.41.62.60.63.9
Career 240---.558----13.8

Playoffs statistics
Year Team GP MPG 2P% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TP PPG
1993 ÍR 2--------3015.0
1997 KR 5-.258.250.7505.41.44.60.4224.4
1998 KR 627.7.457-.1254.20.83.50.0335.5
1999† KR 627.0.500.500.3755.81.44.40.4306.0
2002† KR 821.6.300.273.5563.91.51.80.5374.6
Career 27--------1525.6

Note: Rebounds, assists, steals and blocks where first tracked during the 1993–94 season. Minutes where first tracked during the 1996–97 season.

Icelandic national team

Between 1989 and 1999, Linda played 39 games for the Icelandic national basketball team.[24]

References
  1. "Lið aldarinnar hjá KKÍ tilkynnt í bikarúrslitaleikjunum á laugardaginn". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 26 February 2001. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  2. Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson (6 December 1999). "Linda stal þeim 500". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  3. "Mjög fjölhæf íþróttastúlka". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 25 May 1986. p. 70. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  4. "Forréttindi að eiga hjálpsama fjölskyldu". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 13 February 1998. pp. B4–B5. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  5. "ÍS - ÍR". kki.is (in Icelandic). Icelandic Basketball Federation. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  6. Ægir Már Kárason (15 April 1991). "Magnús og Linda best". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). p. 38. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  7. "ÍR - 1. deild kvenna". kki.is (in Icelandic). Icelandic Basketball Federation. Archived from the original on 19 November 2009. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  8. "1. deild kvenna 1993". kki.is (in Icelandic). Icelandic Basketball Federation. Archived from the original on 19 November 2009. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  9. "Þau bestu og efnilegustu". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 14 April 1993. p. D4. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  10. "Samkeppnin er mikil". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 6 October 1993. p. 23. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  11. "Efstu konur í tölfræði KKÍ 1994-2001". kki.is (in Icelandic). Icelandic Basketball Federation. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  12. "Linda í KR". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 22 October 1996. p. C3. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  13. "Tilbúnar að fórna öllu fyrir titilinn". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 6 April 1999. p. 20. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  14. "Besta lið sögunnar". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 6 April 1999. p. 20. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  15. "Reynslubolti". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 25 February 2000. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  16. "Blóðtaka hjá KR". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 25 February 2000. p. 18. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  17. "Breytingar". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 16 October 2000. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  18. "Linda með á ný". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 10 December 2001. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  19. "Bæði lið sigurvegarar". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 11 February 2002. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  20. "Aldrei lent í öðru eins". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 15 April 2002. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  21. Stefán Stefánsson (16 April 2002). "KR-stúlkur bættu við bikarasafnið". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  22. "KR - Reykjavíkurmót kvenna". kki.is (in Icelandic). Icelandic Basketball Federation. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  23. "Breyttir tímar". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 8 October 2003. p. 32. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  24. "KKÍ | A landslið". kki.is. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
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