Gülşah Akkaya (born October 6, 1977) is a former Turkish professional woman

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 (appro ...

player in forward position. The 1.81 m (5' 11½") tall national player was a top scorer. Akkaya started playing basketball at the age of 13. She debuted in Deniz Nakliyat and then transferred to Fenerbahçe İstanbul where she played in 1995–96 season. In 1997, she moved to the US and played in the American

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

with the

Lynn University Lynn University is a private university in Boca Raton, Florida, United States. Founded in 1962, the university awards Associate degree, associate, Bachelor's degree, baccalaureate, Master's degree, master's, and Doctorate, doctoral Academic degr ...

team in two seasons until 1999. She still ranks 4th with an average of 23.8 points in the all-time list of single season points per season for her time being at

Boca Raton Boca Raton ( ; ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 97,422 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and it ranked as the 23rd-largest city in Florida in 2022. Many people with a Boca Raton Address, ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. After Akkaya returned home and was with Fenerbahçe İstanbul in the season 1999–00, she transferred to the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

club

Panserraikos Panserraikos Football Club (), the ''All-Serres Football Club'', is a Greece, Greek Association football, football club based in Serres in Central Macedonia, Greece. Panserraikos is one of the most important and well-supported clubs in northern G ...

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

for 2002–03 season and became top scorer with 204 points. In 2003, Akkaya played in YES Ramat HaSharon club in

Ramat HaSharon Ramat HaSharon (, ) is an affluent city located on Israel's central coastal strip in the south of the Sharon, Israel, Sharon region, bordering the cities of Tel Aviv to the south, Hod HaSharon, Hod-HaSharon to the east, and Herzliya and kibbutz ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. She helped her team win the championship by scoring a basket at the latest second. Returned to Turkey in 2003, Akkaya played for

Erdemirspor Erdemir Spor Kulübü, also referred to as Erdemirspor or Erdemir Zonguldak, is a professional basketball team based in the city of Zonguldak in Turkey that plays in the Turkish Basketball League. The team was founded in 2000. Their home arena is ...

Zonguldak Zonguldak () is a List of cities in Turkey, city of about 100 thousand people in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is the seat of Zonguldak Province and Zonguldak District.2005 Mediterranean Games The XVth Mediterranean Games Almería 2005 (XV Juegos del Mediterráneo 2005 in Spanish), commonly known as the 2005 Mediterranean Games, were the 15th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Almería, Spain over 10 days, from 24 June to 3 Ju ...

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of Almería, province of the same name. It lies in southeastern Iberian Peninsula, Iberia on the Mediterranean S ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

with the Turkish national team, which won a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

. She was top scorer in

Turkish Women's Basketball League The Turkish Women's Basketball League (, TKBL), is Turkish basketball league system, the second-tier level women's professional basketball division of the Turkish women's basketball league system. The league was established in 1980 and is orga ...

with her average of 22.0 points in 25 games in the 2004–05 season. She also played for Beşiktaş for the 2005–06 season. That year she played in the league finals with Beşiktaş. For 2006–2007 season she returned to Mersin B.B. sports club and played with an average of 17.0 points per game and help Mersin to play in playoffs. She also played for

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

in the 2007–08 season. She was member of

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

club El Cadi La Seu D'Urgell sports club for the 2008–09 season. She played for Samsun B.K. between 2009 and 2011. Akkaya played in the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

that won the silber medal at the

EuroBasket Women 2011 The 2011 European Women Basketball Championship, commonly called EuroBasket Women 2011, was the 33rd regional championship held by FIBA Europe. The competition was held in Poland from 18 June to 3 July 2011. This was the 4th time that the EuroBa ...

championship held in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. During the 2011–12 season, Gülşah played for

TED Ankara Kolejliler TED Ankara Kolejliler Spor Kulübü, more commonly known as TED Ankara Kolejliler is a professional basketball team from the city of Ankara in Turkey. Their home arena is the Ankara Arena with a capacity of 10,400 seats, which was opened in April ...

. By the start of the season 2012–13, she was transferred to Canik, after playing half of the season with Canik, Gülşah returned to Beşiktaş in January 2013, and played with 12,4 points and 4,3 rebounds for the rest of the season.

Honors

Individual

* ''

2004-05 Top Scorer''

National team

2005 Mediterranean Games The XVth Mediterranean Games Almería 2005 (XV Juegos del Mediterráneo 2005 in Spanish), commonly known as the 2005 Mediterranean Games, were the 15th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Almería, Spain over 10 days, from 24 June to 3 Ju ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akkaya, Gulsah 1977 births Living people Turkish women's basketball players Turkish expatriate basketball people Turkish expatriate basketball people in Greece Turkish expatriate basketball people in Spain Turkish expatriate basketball people in Israel Turkish expatriate basketball people in the United States Fenerbahçe women's basketball players Beşiktaş women's basketball players Galatasaray S.K. (women's basketball) players Mersin Büyükşehir Belediyesi women's basketball players Lynn Fighting Knights women's basketball players People from Bornova Sportspeople from İzmir Province Basketball players from İzmir Forwards (basketball) Turkey women's national basketball team players

Honors

Individual

National team

See also

References