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Shafir Leaves for Toledo
Safsal
,09/02/2008 |
Naama Shafir, the 18-year-old guard considered to be the most talented young player in Israel, is flying tonight towards the next step in her career - NCAA Division I - with the Toledo Rockets. "I'm excited, I'm sure it will be alright", said Shafir.
Naama Shafir recently came back from the U-18 European Championship Div. B with the Israeli team, where she won the tournament's scoring title and was named to the All-Tournament team as the best point guard in the championship. She averaged 21.2 points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game. Shafir had some time to pack her bags and tonight she will take off for the States, to play basketball for the University of Toledo. "It's a little scary, even more than a little, but I'm glad I'm going for it", said Shafir. "Going from Emek Izrael to a new place, it will be a little culture shock but I'm sure everything will be alright", she said with her usual ease.
The University of Toledo which is going to generate a lot of Israeli attention from now on, was founded in 1872 and currently enrolls about 20,700 students. To understand the school's commitment towards their women's basketball program, all that is needed is a glance at the coaching staff. Toledo inked Tricia Cullop, who spent the last eight years as the head coach at Evansville. Cullop turned Evansville's women's basketball program around, and was named the MVC Coach of The Year last season after leading her team to the regular season title with a 21-8 record. The University of Toledo also renovated their arena making it a top notch facility, it seats 7,350 people.
Shafir, the Israeli Under-19 league MVP in the past two years, is one of four freshmen joining the Rockets this season. The team has just one senior, and two returning starters. Last season the Rockets finished 5th in the Mid American West conference with a 5-10 record (14-16 overall), but still made the Conference Tournament semi finals. The 08/09 season is set to tip off sometime in November, we will obviously follow it closely.
Good luck
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