Linda Stefánsdóttir (born 28 June 1972) is an Icelandic former

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 and a former member of the

Icelandic national basketball team The Iceland men's national basketball team ( is, Íslenska karlalandsliðið í körfubolta) represents Iceland in international basketball tournaments. The team is controlled by the Icelandic Basketball Association. Iceland has qualified for t ...

. 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 The Icelandic Basketball Association (''Icelandic:Körfuknattleikssamband Íslands - KKÍ'') is the national governing body of basketball in Iceland and is a member of the continental association FIBA Europe and the global International Basketba ...

. She was one of the premium defenders during her career, leading the Úrvalsdeild in steals four times.

Early life

Linda grew up in

Vík í Mýrdal The village of Vík (; or Vík í Mýrdal in full) is the southernmost village in Iceland, located on the main ring road around the island, around by road southeast of Reykjavík. Despite its small size (750 inhabitants in Mýrdalshreppur as ...

where she competed in

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

. She was introduced to basketball at the age of fourteen when she moved to Reykjavík.

Career

Linda debuted with ÍR on 19 October 1987, scoring 8 points in ÍR's 46–43 loss against ÍS. After her fourth season, she was named the Domestic Player of the Year. Linda led the league in scoring during the 1992–1993 season, averaging 20.9 points per game, helping the team finish second in the league behind Keflavík. For her effort, she was named the Domestic Player of the Year for the second time in her career. 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 Valur may refer to: People * Birkir Valur Jónsson (born 1998), Icelandic football player * Björn Valur Gíslason (born 1959), Icelandic politician * Guðjón Valur Sigurðsson (born 1979), Icelandic handball player * Guðni Valur Guðnason (born ...

. During her second season with Valur, Linda averaged 19.5 points, and league leading 4.1 assists and 6.9 steals. After one season back with ÍR, where she averaged 17.1 points and led the league with 5.2 assists and 6.3 steals, Linda transferred to KR in October 1996. In 1999, Linda won her first national championship and first Icelandic Basketball Cup after KR swept the season, winning all 25 regular season and playoff games, and all 3 cup games. On 24 February 2000, Linda injured her knee in a game against Keflavík. The injury was severe and she ended missing both the rest of the season and the 2000–2001 season. She returned to the court on 7 December 2001, 21-months after the injury. On 9 February 2002, she won the Icelandic Basketball Cup for the second time after KR beat

Njarðvík Njarðvík () is a town in southwestern Iceland, on the peninsula of Reykjanes. As of 2009, its population was 4,400. History In 1995 it merged with the town of Keflavík and the village of Hafnir to form the new municipality of Reykjanesbær. T ...

81–74 in the cup final. 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. In 2003 she had a brief comeback with KR when she appeared in one game during the pre-season Reykjavík Tournament, scoring 2 points.

Úrvalsdeild statistics

Regular season statistics

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;" ! Year ! Team ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! , - , style="text-align:left;", 1987–88 , style="text-align:left;", ÍR , 17 , , - , , - , , - , , .474 , , - , , - , , - , , - , , 7.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1988–89 , style="text-align:left;", ÍR , 18 , , - , , - , , - , , .479 , , - , , - , , - , , - , , 14.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1989–90 , style="text-align:left;", ÍR , 18 , , - , , - , , - , , .515 , , - , , - , , - , , - , , 14.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1990–91 , style="text-align:left;", ÍR , 15 , , - , , - , , - , , .600 , , - , , - , , - , , - , , 14.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1991–92 , style="text-align:left;", ÍR , 20 , , - , , - , , - , , .392 , , - , , - , , - , , - , , 17.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1992–93 , style="text-align:left;", ÍR , 15 , , - , , - , , - , , .462 , , - , , - , , - , , - , , bgcolor="CFECEC" , 20.9* , - , style="text-align:left;", 1993–94 , style="text-align:left;",

, 18 , , - , , - , , - , , .618 , , - , , - , , - , , - , , 15.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1994–95 , style="text-align:left;",

, 24 , , - , , .445 , , .242 , , .605 , , 7.7 , , bgcolor="CFECEC" , 4.1* , , bgcolor="CFECEC" , 6.9* , , 0.5 , , 19.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1995–96 , style="text-align:left;", ÍR , 17 , , - , , .484 , , .192 , , .711 , , 6.3 , , bgcolor="CFECEC" , 5.2* , , bgcolor="CFECEC" , 6.3* , , 0.6 , , 17.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1996–97 , style="text-align:left;", KR , 14 , , 20.5 , , .500 , , .120 , , .690 , , 5.8 , , 2.9 , , bgcolor="CFECEC" , 5.2* , , 0.4 , , 16.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1997–98 , style="text-align:left;", KR , 14 , , 22.1 , , .435 , , .000 , , .586 , , 4.4 , , 2.0 , , 2.7 , , 0.1 , , 6.9 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;", 1998–99† , style="text-align:left;", KR , 20 , , 26.9 , , .546 , , .000 , , .578 , , 5.8 , , 1.4 , , bgcolor="CFECEC" , 4.4* , , 0.6 , , 10.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1999–00 , style="text-align:left;", KR , 16 , , 22.5 , , .439 , , .300 , , .444 , , 4.5 , , 2.8 , , 4.2 , , 0.3 , , 9.1 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;", 2001–02† , style="text-align:left;", KR , 14 , , 18.0 , , .404 , , .176 , , .636 , , 3.4 , , 1.6 , , 2.6 , , 0.6 , , 3.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 240, , -, , -, , -, , .558, , -, , -, , -, , -, , 13.8 , - class="sortbottom"

Playoffs statistics

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;" ! Year ! Team ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! , - , style="text-align:left;", 1993 , style="text-align:left;", ÍR , 2 , , - , , - , , - , , - , , - , , - , , - , , - , , 30 , , 15.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1997 , style="text-align:left;", KR , 5 , , - , , .258 , , .250 , , .750 , , 5.4 , , 1.4 , , 4.6 , , 0.4 , , 22 , , 4.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1998 , style="text-align:left;", KR , 6 , , 27.7 , , .457 , , - , , .125 , , 4.2 , , 0.8 , , 3.5 , , 0.0 , , 33 , , 5.5 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;", 1999† , style="text-align:left;", KR , 6 , , 27.0 , , .500 , , .500 , , .375 , , 5.8 , , 1.4 , , 4.4 , , 0.4 , , 30 , , 6.0 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;", 2002† , style="text-align:left;", KR , 8 , , 21.6 , , .300 , , .273 , , .556 , , 3.9 , , 1.5 , , 1.8 , , 0.5 , , 37 , , 4.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 27, , -, , -, , -, , -, , -, , -, , -, , -, , 152, , 5.6 , - class="sortbottom" ''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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stefansdottir, Linda 1972 births Living people Linda Stefansdottir Linda Stefansdottir Linda Stefansdottir Linda Stefansdottir Linda Stefansdottir Guards (basketball)