Hildur Björg Kjartansdóttir (born 18 November 1994) is an Icelandic former basketball player. She was named the Icelandic Women's Basketball Player of the Year twice, in 2017 and 2018, and was a four time selection to the Úrvalsdeild Domestic All-First Team. During her career, she won the Icelandic championship three times and the Icelandic Cup once. Outside of Iceland, Hildur played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for Texas–Rio Grande Valley and professionally in Spain and Belgium.

Career

After coming up the junior ranks of Snæfell, Hildur played her first game for the senior team during the 2009-10 Úrvalsdeild kvenna season. During the 2012–13 season, she was selected as a starter in Icelandic All-Star game, where she scored 12 points and grabbed four rebounds. She was a key member of the Snæfell's 2014 national championship team, averaging 15.3 points and 9.9 rebounds during the season. In 2014, Hildur signed with

University of Texas Rio Grande Valley The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) is a public research university with its main campus in Edinburg, Texas, and multiple other campuses throughout the Rio Grande Valley region of Texas. It is the southernmost member of the Uni ...

and spent the next three years there. On 24 February 2017 she scored the game winning basket at the buzzer against

Seattle University Seattle University (Seattle U or SU) is a private Jesuit university in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the largest independent university in the Northwestern United States, with over 7,500 students enrolled in undergraduate and grad ...

. She played 100 games for UTRGV, with 82 starts, averaging 7.4 points and 6.4 rebounds over the three seasons. After graduating, Hildur signed with Breiðablik on 27 May 2017. In August, she exercised an

escape clause An escape clause is any clause, term, or condition in a contract that allows a party to that contract to avoid having to perform the contract. If an agreement was drawn up for the sale of a house, for example, the purchaser could include some ki ...

in her contract with Breiðablik and signed with Club Baloncesto Leganés of the Spanish

Liga Femenina 2 Liga Femenina 2 is the second division of the women's league of basketball in Spain. It was founded in 2001. Competition format Teams in this league are divided into two groups by geographical criteria. The top four teams of each one, qualify to ...

. For the season she averaged 11.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, while shooting 40% from the three-point range. In June 2018, Hildur signed with rival LF2 club Celta de Vigo Baloncesto. In December 2018, Hildur was named the Icelandic Women's Basketball Player of the Year for the second straight year. On 13 May 2019, Hildur signed a one-year contract with Úrvalsdeild kvenna club KR. On 13 February 2020 she led all scorers with 37 points in a victory against defending cup and national champions Valur in the Icelandic Cup final four, propelling KR to the Cup finals. On 13 May 2020, Hildur signed with Valur after KR failed to give her a contract offer or any answers on the future of the team in the aftermath of the

coronavirus pandemic in Iceland The COVID-19 pandemic in Iceland was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to have reached Iceland in February 2020. , the to ...

. On 2 June 2021, she won the national championship after Valur beat Haukar 3–0 in the Úrvalsdeild finals. Following the season, she was named to the Úrvalsdeild Domestic All-First team. In July 2022, Hildur Björg signed with

BC Namur-Capitale Basketball Club Namur-Capital, also known as Belfius Namur-Capitale for sponsorship reasons, is a Belgian women's basketball club from Namur. It was founded in 2010 from the merge of local teams Saint Servais and Novia. St. Servais was the mos ...

of the

Belgian Women's Basketball League The Belgian Jupiler Women's Basketball League (French Championnat de Belgique de basketball féminin) is Belgium's basketball tournament among women's teams. The first tournament took place in 1934, won by Schaerbeek. BC Namur-Capitale from Saint- ...

. In December 2022, Hildur returned to Iceland and signed back with Valur. The same month, she came in second in the voting for the Icelandic Female Basketball Player of the Year. On 28 April 2023, she won her third Icelandic championship after Valur defeated top-seeded

Keflavík Keflavík (pronounced , meaning ''Driftwood Bay'') is a town in the Reykjanes region in southwest Iceland. It is included in the municipality of Reykjanesbær whose population as of 2016 is 15,129. In 1995, Keflavík merged with nearby Njar ...

in the Úrvalsdeild finals, 3–1. Following the season, she was selected to the Úrvalsdeild Domestic All-First Team. On 24 January 2024, Hildur Björg announced her retirement from playing basketball due to repetitive head injuries, including two during the season.

Icelandic national team

Hildur Björg was first selected to the Icelandic national basketball team in 2013, at the age of seventeen, and as of 2017 she has played 19 games for the team. In November 2017 she was selected to the team for the EuroBasket Women 2019 qualification.

Awards, titles and accomplishments

Individual awards

* Icelandic Women's Basketball Player of the Year (2): 2017, 2018 * Úrvalsdeild Domestic All-First Team (4): 2013, 2014, 2021, 2023 *All-WAC Newcomer Team honors: 2015

Titles

* Icelandic champion (3): 2014, 2021, 2023 * Icelandic Basketball Cup: 2014 * Icelandic Supercup (2): 2012, 2014 * Icelandic Company Cup: 2012

Accomplishments

*Icelandic All-Star game: 2013

References

External links

Icelandic statistics
at kki.is
Profile
at

Spanish Basketball Federation The Spanish Basketball Federation (; FEB) is the governing body of basketball in Spain. Based in Madrid, it was founded on 31 July 1923 in Barcelona, Spain. It organizes all the female national competitions ( Liga Femenina (1st), Liga Femenina ...

College profile
at goutrgv.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kjartansdottir, Hildur Bjorg 1994 births Living people Hildur Bjorg Kjartansdottir Hildur Bjorg Kjartansdottir Hildur Bjorg Kjartansdottir Hildur Bjorg Kjartansdottir Hildur Bjorg Kjartansdottir Hildur Bjorg Kjartansdottir Hildur Bjorg Kjartansdottir Forwards (basketball)