2018–19 Úrvalsdeild kvenna (basketball) explained

Updated:	27 April 2019
Nextseason:	2019–20
Domino's deild kvenna^1
Extra Information:	^1 Sponsored league name, referring to Úrvalsdeild kvenna.
T Bg:	00458D
T Color:	white
Champions:	Valur
Runners Up:	Keflavík
Semifinalists:	Stjarnan, KR
Relegated:	Breiðablik
Teams:	8
Games:	60
Duration:	3 October 2018 – 27 April 2019
Tv:	Stöð 2 Sport
Finals Mvp N:	ISL
Finals Mvp Link:	Úrvalsdeild Women's Playoffs MVP
Award4:	Domestic MVP
Award4 Link:	Úrvalsdeild Women's Domestic Player of the Year
Award4 N:	ISL
Award5:	Foreign MVP
Award5 Link:	Úrvalsdeild Women's Foreign Player of the Year
Award5 N:	USA
Ppg:	29.8
Ppg N:	USA
Rebounds Leader:	Shequila Joseph
Rpg:	14.5
Rpg N:	USA
Apg:	8.6
Apg N:	USA
Highest Scoring:	Valur 101–94 Keflavík (14 December 2018)
Winning Streak:	18 games Valur
Losing Streak:	13 games Breiðablik
Biggest Home Win:	Valur 111–64 Breiðablik (30 January 2019)
Biggest Away Win:	Valur 98–67 KR (9 March 2019)

The 2018–19 Úrvalsdeild kvenna was the 62nd season of the Úrvalsdeild kvenna, the top tier women's basketball league on Iceland. The season started on 3 October 2018 and concluded on 27 April 2019 with Valur winning their first title after beating Keflavík 3–0 in the Úrvalsdeild finals.^[1]

Competition format

The participating teams first play a conventional round-robin schedule with every team playing each opponent twice "home" and twice "away" for a total of 28 games. The top four teams qualify for the championship playoffs whilst the bottom team will be relegated to 1. deild kvenna.

Teams

Team	City, Region	Arena	Head coach
Breiðablik	Kópavogur	Smárinn	Antonio D’Albero
Haukar	Hafnarfjörður	Schenkerhöllin	Ólöf Helga Pálsdóttir
Keflavík	Keflavík	TM Höllin	Jón Guðmundsson
KR	Reykjavík	DHL-Höllin	Benedikt Guðmundsson
Skallagrímur	Borgarnes	Fjósið	Biljana Stanković
Snæfell	Stykkishólmur	Fjárhúsið	Baldur Þorleifsson
Stjarnan	Garðabær	Ásgarður	Pétur Már Sigurðsson
Valur	Reykjavík	Origo-völlurinn	Darri Freyr Atlason

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced with	Date of appointment
	Sverrir Þór Sverrisson^[2]	End of contract	5 April 2018	Off-season	Jón Guðmundsson^[3]	18 April 2018
	Hildur Sigurðardóttir^[4]	Resigned	4 April 2018		Margrét Sturlaugsdóttir^[5]	18 April 2018
	Ingvar Þór Guðjónsson^[6]	Resigned	26 May 2018		Ólöf Helga Pálsdóttir^[7]	28 May 2018
	Ingi Þór Steinþórsson^[8]	End of contract	12 June 2018		Baldur Þorleifsson^[9]	27 June 2018
	Margrét Sturlaugsdóttir^[10]	Health reasons	14 November 2018	8th	Antonio D’Albero	15 November 2018^[11]
	Ari Gunnarsson^[12]	Fired^[13]	26 November 2018	6th	Biljana Stanković^[14]	4 December 2018

Playoffs

The playoffs are played between the four first qualified teams with a 1-1-1-1-1 format, playing seeded teams games 1, 3 and 5 at home.

Bracket

Updated to match(es) played on 27 April 2019. Source: KKÍ

Semifinals

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Final

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Notable occurrences

• On June 16, reigning Úrvalsdeild Domestic Player of the Year Helena Sverrisdóttir left Haukar and signed with Ceglédi EKK of the Hungarian Nemzeti Bajnokság I/A.^[15]
• On June 25, reigning Úrvalsdeild Foreign Player of the Year Danielle Rodriguez resigned with Stjarnan.^[16]
• On June 30, Haukar signed former Úrvalsdeild Foreign Player of the Year Lele Hardy.^[17]
• On August 14, Breiðablik signed former WNBA player Kelly Faris.^[18]
• On September 5, Stjarnan signed Argentinian national team player Florencia Palacios who spent the previous season in the Swedish Basketligan dam.^[19]
• On September 14, it was reported that KR had signed former Torpan Pojat player Kiana Johnson.^[20]
• On October 31, Brittanny Dinkins scored a career-high 51 points for Keflavík against Breiðablik,^[21] including Keflavík's last 14 points in the 85–78 victory.^[22]
• On October 31, Danielle Rodriguez was one steal away from a quadruple-double in a victory against Valur. She finished the game with 23 points, 12 rebounds, 13 assists and 9 steals.^[23]
• On November 1, it was reported that Valur had released American Brooke Johnson who had averaged 16.5 points, 9.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game.^[24] In her place, the club signed Heather Butler who last played for Uppsala Basket in the Basketligan dam.^[25]
• On November 2, Breiðablik announced that star center Isabella Ósk Sigurðardóttir would miss the rest of the season after tearing her Anterior cruciate ligament on practice. She had been averaging 9.6 points, 10.8 rebounds and league leading 2.2 blocks for the season.^[26] In her place, Breiðablik signed Sanja Orozović.^[27]
• On November 14, Margrét Sturlaugsdóttir resigned from her post as head coach of Breiðablik for health reasons.^[10]
• On November 15, 2018, reigning Úrvalsdeild Domestic Player of the Year, Helena Sverrisdóttir, signed with Valur.^[28]
• On November 24, Breiðablik defeated Haukar for its first win of the season, breaking its 8-game losing streak.^{[29] [30]}
• On December 20, it was reported that Stjarnan had released Florencia Palacios who had averaged 11.8 points and 4.0 rebounds while shooting 34.8% from the three-point range in 12 games for the club.^{[31] [32]}
• On December 21, Haukar signed Dutch national team player Janine Guijt for the rest of the season.^[33]
• On January 3, Breiðablik announced that it had signed Florencia Palacios who had been released by Stjarnan in December.^[34]
• On January 9, Stjarnan and Icelandic national team player Ragna Margrét Brynjarsdóttir played her first game since suffering a concussion during a game on 3 February 2018, scoring 7 points in 12 minutes in a loss against Keflavík.^[35]
• On February 6, Kiana Johnson scored 50 points for KR in a 102–81 victory against Breiðablik. She also had 16 rebounds and 10 assists.^[36]
• On February 6, Unnur Tara Jónsdóttir of KR and the Icelandic national team suffered a knee injury in a victory against Breiðablik and was initially ruled out for the rest of the season.^[37]
• On 11 April, KR's Ástrós Lena Ægisdóttir tied the Úrvalsdeild playoffs record for most three pointers in a game when she made 7 three point shots in a victory against Valur.^[38]

External links

• Official Icelandic Basketball Federation website

Notes and References

1. News: Valur Páll Eiríksson . Valskonur Íslandsmeistarar í fyrsta sinn . 27 April 2019 . . 27 April 2019 . Icelandic.
2. News: Sverrir Þór og Jón taka við Keflavík. 22 April 2018. Morgunblaðið. 5 April 2018. Icelandic.
3. News: Ástrós Ýr Eggertsdóttir. Jón tekur við kvennaliði Keflavíkur. Vísir.is. 18 April 2018. 22 April 2018. Icelandic.
4. News: Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson. Eini kvenþjálfarinn í kvennadeildinni hættir óvænt. 4 April 2018. Vísir.is. 4 April 2018. Icelandic.
5. News: Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson. Blikar áfram með konu við stjórnvölinn: Margrét tekur við af Hildi. 22 April 2018. Vísir.is. 18 April 2018. Icelandic.
6. News: Anton Ingi Leifsson. Ingvar hættur með Íslandsmeistarana. 28 May 2018. Vísir.is. 26 May 2018. Icelandic.
7. News: Ólöf tekur við Íslandsmeisturunum. 28 May 2018. Morgunblaðið. 28 May 2018. Icelandic.
8. News: Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson . Ingi Þór orðinn þjálfari KR-inga á ný: Fjögurra ára samningur . 12 June 2018 . . 12 June 2018 . Icelandic.
9. News: Baldur stjórnar liði Snæfells . 27 June 2018 . karfan.is . 27 June 2018 . Icelandic . https://web.archive.org/web/20180627230900/http://karfan.is/read/2018-06-27/baldur-mun-stjorna-snaefell/ . 27 June 2018 . dead .
10. News: Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson . Margrét hættir sem þjálfari kvennaliðs Breiðabliks . 14 November 2018 . . 14 November 2018 . Icelandic.
11. News: Ólafur Þór Jónsson . Antonio tekinn við Breiðablik . 25 November 2018 . Karfan.is . 26 November 2018 . Icelandic.
12. News: Ólafur Þór Jónsson . Ari hættur með Skallagrím . 26 November 2018 . Karfan.is . 26 November 2018 . Icelandic.
13. News: Henry Birgir Gunnarsson . Segist hafa fengið skipanir úr stúkunni frá fyrrum formanni . 28 November 2018 . . 28 November 2018 . Icelandic.
14. News: Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson . Sigursælasta körfuboltakona Serbíu þjálfar lið Skallagríms . 4 December 2018 . . 4 December 2018 . Icelandic.
15. News: Einar Örn Jónsson. Helena til Ungverjalands. 16 May 2018. RÚV. 16 May 2018. Icelandic.
16. News: Arnar Geir Halldórsson . Danielle áfram í Garðabænum og sex aðrar semja . 1 July 2018 . . 25 June 2018 . Icelandic.
17. News: Lele Hardy aftur á Ásvelli . 1 July 2018 . Vísir.is. Ástrós Ýr Eggertsdóttir . 30 June 2018 . Icelandic.
18. News: Ástrós Ýr Eggertsdóttir . Fyrrum WNBA leikmaður í Breiðablik . 16 August 2018 . . 15 August 2018 . Icelandic.
19. News: Stjarnan fær argentínska landsliðskonu . 5 September 2018 . karfan.is . 5 September 2018 . Icelandic.
20. News: Kristinn Páll Teitsson . Kvennalið KR bætir við öflugum bakverði . 17 September 2018 . . 14 September 2018 . Icelandic.
21. News: Þór Símon Hafþórsson . Umfjöllun og viðtöl: Breiðablik - Keflavík 78-85 - Brittanny skaut Breiðablik í kaf . 1 November 2018 . . 31 October 2018 . Icelandic.
22. News: Dinkins með 51 stig í sigri á Breiðabliki . 1 November 2018 . . 31 October 2018 . Icelandic.
23. News: Anton Ingi Leifsson . Nýliðarnir á toppnum, Danielle hetjan gegn Val og framlengt í Hafnarfirði . 3 November 2018 . . 31 October 2018 . Icelandic.
24. News: Ólafur Þór Jónsson . Valur lætur Brooke fara . 3 November 2018 . Karfan.is . 1 November 2018 . Icelandic.
25. News: Davíð Eldur . Heather Butler til Vals . 10 November 2018 . Karfan.is . 7 November 2018 . Icelandic.
26. News: Davíð Eldur . Isabella Ósk með slitið krossband . 2 November 2018 . Karfan.is . 2 November 2018 . Icelandic.
27. News: Davíð Eldur . Sanja Orozović til Breiðabliks . 2 November 2018 . Karfan.is . 2 November 2018 . Icelandic.
28. News: Davíð Eldur . Helena Sverrisdóttir í Val . 15 November 2018 . Karfan.is . 15 November 2018 . Icelandic.
29. News: Fyrsti sigur Breiðabliks í höfn . 28 November 2018 . . 24 November 2018 . Icelandic.
30. News: Víkingur Goði Sigurðsson . Umfjöllun og viðtöl: Breiðablik - Skallagrímur 85-79 - Breiðablik komið á blað . 28 November 2018 . . 24 November 2018 . Icelandic.
31. News: Davíð Eldur . Florencia Palacios yfirgefur Stjörnuna . 20 December 2018 . Karfan.is . 20 December 2018 . Icelandic.
32. Web site: Úrvalsdeild kvenna Domino's deild kvenna (2018-2019 Tímabil) - Maria Florencia Palacios . kki.is . . 20 December 2018 . Icelandic.
33. News: Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson . Byrjar á því að upplifa gamlárskvöld í fyrsta sinn á Íslandi og spilar svo með Haukum fram á vor . 21 December 2018 . . 21 December 2018 . Icelandic.
34. News: Ólafur Þór Jónsson . Florencia Palacios til liðs við Breiðablik . 3 January 2019 . Karfan.is . 3 January 2019 . Icelandic.
35. News: Ragna sneri aftur eftir höfuðhögg . 10 January 2019 . . 10 January 2019 . Icelandic.
36. News: Allt í hnút í Dominosdeild kvenna . 6 February 2019 . . 6 February 2019 . Icelandic.
37. News: Davíð Eldur . Unnur Tara ekki meira með á þessu tímabili . 18 February 2019 . Karfan.is . 18 February 2019 . Icelandic.
38. News: Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson . Ástrós Lena jafnaði þrista metið í úrslitakeppni kvenna í gær . 12 April 2019 . . 12 April 2019 . Icelandic.