The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

WALTIEA Rolle's pro basketball career will continue this season in Turkey.

According to World Wide Hoop, Rolle has signed with Endremit Gurespor of the Turkish Women's Basketball League (TKBL).

The TKBL is the top women's basketball league in Turkey and will play its 37th season this year.

The 6'6" centre and University of North Carolina product last played with Haskovo 2012 in the Bulgaria's NBL league where she averaged 13.9 points and 12.3 rebounds per game.

In her previous season she 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.

In her first stint with Haskovo 2012 in 2014, 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 told The Tribune of her offseason plans of a return to pro basketball in Europe, specifically in Turkey, which provided much more financial stability than Bulgaria. "I'm trying to get back overseas," she said in May. "Me and my agent are trying to get a deal somewhere in Turkey where the contract is a lot better than where I was before."

She spent her offseason working on the holes in her game. "I just have to work on my speed. I need to get a lot faster," Rolle said. "My post game wasn't the best, but I hope that between October and November, I will be in shape to go overseas to play again."

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.

She appeared in all three pre-season games with the team, averaging 7.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game. After completing training camp and the preseason with Minnesota, Rolle was waived just prior to the tip-off of the 2014 WNBA season.

Her WNBA journey 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.

"I know what I have to do in order to get back there [to the WNBA]," she said. "I'm not going to rush anything. I just want to make sure that I am in the best condition to play at that level gain because when I go back, I want to make an impact. Everything happens for a reason. I may not have had the type of career that I anticipated, but I'm not going to give up. I know I can still play this game and I'm going to prove that I can do it. I am just waiting on the right opportunity for me to go back overseas and once I do, I will make the most out of it. I want to play in the WNBA again, but I won't rush it. When the time comes, me and my agent will reach out to a team."

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.

She made 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 stands as the sixth best of all-time and her 82 blocks in the 2011 season eighth in North Carolina history.