The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

WALTIEA Rolle is back on the pro circuit in Bulgaria and posting major numbers for her Haskovo 2012 club.

In her season debut, Rolle finished with 24 points  and 16 rebounds in her team’s 84-62 win over Neftochimic in Bulgaria’s NBL League.

After dropping the season opener, Haskovo has reeled off three consecutive wins for a 3-1 record and remain in second position in the standings, one point behind league leader Montana 2003. Neftochemic fell to third place.

The 6’6” centre and University of North Carolina producct last played with Nymburk, of the Czech Republic’s ZBL League in 2015, where she averaged 16.3 points and 10.4 rebounds in 31 games.

This is her second stint with Haskovo 2012 in the NBL after playing with the team in 2014 when she led the club in several statistical categories. Through 20 games and 27.3 minutes per game on the court, she shot .504 from the field and .783 from the three throw line for an average of 14.1 points per game. Rolle also averaged 9.2 rebounds and 1.95 blocks.

Rolle, the first Bahamian to be drafted into the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) was a third-round pick (36th overall) by the Minnesota Lynx in the 2013 WNBA Draft and appeared in all three pre-season games with the team, averaging 7.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game.

After the draft, Rolle then elected to forego the entire 2013 WNBA season in favour of completing her degree in sports administration and exercise sports science at the University of North Carolina, and playing overseas.

Ater completing training camp and the preseason with Minnesota, Rolle was waived last May just prior to the tip-off of the 2014 WNBA season.

Her WNBA journey for ended in May 2015 when she was waived by the Seattle Storm.

In six games with the Storm in 2014, Rolle averaged 3.2 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.

Late in the season, the Storm re-signed Rolle for what was expected to be her second season with the franchise. She signed a series of seven-day contracts late in August 2014.

They signed Rolle for the remainder of the 2014 season after she completed three 10-day contracts with the club.

She made further  Bahamian basketball history by becoming the first Bahamian to play in the WNBA when she appeared in the Storm’s 80-74 loss to the Tulsa Shock on July 29, 2014.

She signed her first seven-day contract with the Storm on July 21, dressing for all three of Seattle’s games from July 22-26, but did not receive playing time during the three games in that time span.

During the second contract, she received spot duty in three consecutive contests when she scored two points in each outing. She ended the season with five rebounds in a 78-65 loss to the Phoenix Mercury

A 2013 graduate of North Carolina, Rolle owns two of the top 10 best shot-blocking seasons in school history. Her 89 blocks during the 2013 campaign stand are the sixth best of all-time and her 82 blocks in the 2011 season eighth in North Carolina history.