Carla Cortijo Sánchez (born July 21, 1987) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. She played college basketball for the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...

and the Puerto Rican national team.

Early life

Cortijo was born in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jur ...

to Angel Cortijo and Lourdes Sanchez. She grew up in the city of

Carolina, Puerto Rico Carolina (; ) is a city and municipality located on the northeast coast of Puerto Rico. It lies immediately east of the capital San Juan and Trujillo Alto; north of Gurabo and Juncos; and west of Canóvanas and Loíza. Carolina is spread ove ...

. Cortijo first earned widespread fame for her basketball skills during two seasons of play for Maria Auxiliadora High School, which went undefeated and won the

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

commonwealth championship both years. Cortijo was named Puerto Rico's High School Basketball Player of the Year for 2002. After Cortijo's sophomore season, her family moved to the

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

area. Cortijo attracted national attention as a star

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

for Bellaire High School. She also played AAU basketball for the Houston Elite squad, leading them to the 2004 AAU national title. Cortijo earned Parade Magazine All-American honors for her high school play, and was rated the nation's best point guard in her recruiting class by All Star Girls Report. However, she missed her entire high school senior season with an injury to her left knee.

College career

Cortijo signed with the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. Early in her freshman season, she re-injured her knee, and received a medical redshirt waiver for the 2005–2006 season. As a redshirt freshman in 2006–2007, Cortijo played in 28 games for the Longhorns and started in 18. She led the team in assists, with 137 on the season. Cortijo was one of five players named to the

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its fo ...

All-Freshman Team and the Big 12 All-Academic First Team. Cortijo announced during the offseason that she planned to transfer to St. John's University in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. However, Texas coach

Gail Goestenkors Gail Ann Goestenkors (born February 26, 1963) is an American basketball coach who is currently an assistant coach for the Kentucky Wildcats women's basketball team. She is perhaps best known as the women's college basketball head coach of Duke ...

eventually persuaded Cortijo to rejoin the Longhorns for the 2007–2008 season. Cortijo is majoring in Spanish and minoring in textiles.

Texas statistics

Source

WNBA controversy

Cortijo alleged that the then

Puerto Rican Basketball Federation The Puerto Rican Basketball Federation ( es, link=no, Federación de Baloncesto de Puerto Rico or ''FBPR'') is the governing body of basketball in Puerto Rico. As of October 18, 2021 the Puerto Rico national basketball team, Puerto Rican men's ...

president Carlos Beltrán denied her an opportunity to play in the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...

(WNBA) for the

Atlanta Dream The Atlanta Dream are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded for the 2008 WNBA season. The team is owned by real ...

in order for her to participate with the Puerto Rican women's national basketball team at the 2015

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

, Alberta, Canada Women's Pre-Olympic qualifying tournament.

International career

Cortijo represented Puerto Rico in the international competitions sanctioned by

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its na ...

. As regular

, she led the team to the gold medal at the

2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games, was an international multi-sport event that was held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby cities of Ciudad Guzmán, ...

, which advanced to the finals gathering victories over the United States, Argentina and Brazil. In the gold medal game, Cortijo scored 29 points and recovered 10 rebounds, being Puerto Rico's most productive player in the victory over Mexico. She was a member of the team which competed for Puerto Rico at the

, winning a gold medal.

References

External links

University of Texas media guide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cortijo, Carla 1987 births Living people Atlanta Dream players Basketball players at the 2011 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for Puerto Rico Parade High School All-Americans (girls' basketball) Point guards Puerto Rican women's basketball players Sportspeople from San Juan, Puerto Rico Texas Longhorns women's basketball players Pan American Games medalists in basketball Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Puerto Rico Central American and Caribbean Games silver medalists for Puerto Rico Competitors at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games Competitors at the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in basketball Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games