Anna Cruz Explained

Anna Cruz
Number:15
Position:Small forward / shooting guard
Height Ft:5
Height In:8
Weight Lbs:136
League:LF
Team:Basket Zaragoza
Birth Date:1986 10, df=yes
Birth Place:Badalona, Barcelona, Spain
Nationality:Spanish
Career Start:2002
Highlights:
Wnba Profile:anna_cruz
Years1:2002–2005
Team1:Universitat de Barcelona
Years2:2005–2008
Team2:Arranz-Jopisa Burgos
Years3:2008–2009
Team3:CB Olesa
Years4:2009–2013
Team4:Rivas Ecópolis
Years5:2013–2016
Team5:Nadezhda Orenburg
Years6:2014
Team6:New York Liberty
Years7:20152016
Team7:Minnesota Lynx
Years8:2016–2019
Team8:Dynamo Kursk
Years9:2019-2019
Team9:Fenerbahçe
Years10:2019-2020
Team10:Araski AES
Years11:2020-present
Team11:Basket Zaragoza

Anna Cruz Lebrato (born 27 October 1986) is a Spanish professional basketball player, currently playing for Spanish team Barça CBS (F.C.Barcelona).[1] She developed her professional career in several clubs in Spain, Russia, Turkey and the United States, and had 178 caps for the Spain's national basketball team from 2009 to 2019, winning a total of eight medals. She also won the 2015 WNBA, the 2017 EuroLeague and the 2017 and 2019 EuroBaskets.[2]

Club career

Cruz started playing basketball in clubs in her hometown Barcelona, making the debut in the Spanish top tier league with UB-Barça at 16, still a junior. Despite winning two leagues in 2003 and 2005, the lack of playtime prompted her to move to CB Ciudad de Burgos, but in her third season there the team was relegated and she went back to Barcelona to play at CB Olesa – Espanyol. She played the following four seasons at Rivas Ecópolis in Madrid, winning two Spanish Cups in 2011 and 2013 and playing the four seasons in the EuroLeague.[3]

She moved abroad in 2013 to play for Russian team Nadezhda Orenburg, where she remained for three seasons. Since the summer of 2014 she has combined the European season with the WNBA, first at New York Liberty and with the Minnesota Lynx since 2015, winning the WNBA championship once. She chose to rest for the summer of 2017 and not to play the WNBA season with the Lynx.[4]

At Dynamo Kursk between 2016 and 2019, she won her first Euroleague.[5] title in 2017 under coach Lucas Mondelo. After a short spell at Turkish club Fenerbahçe in 2019, she returned to Spain for the 2020-21 season.

Career statistics

Regular season

Denotes seasons in which Cruz won a WNBA championship
|-| align="left" | 2014| align="left" | New York| 34 || 34 || 27.1 || .462 || .347 || .692 || 3.5 || 3.6 || 1.3 || 0.3 || 2.1 || 7.7|-|style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"| 2015| align="left" | Minnesota| 22 || 17 || 29.1 || .474 || .250 || .786 || 3.6 || 3.0 || 1.0 || 0.2 || 2.2 || 8.0|-| align="left" | 2016| align="left" | Minnesota| 6 || 0 || 10.0 || .455 || 1.000 || 1.000 || 1.0 || 2.0 || 0.3 || 0.0 || 0.3 || 2.8|-| align="left" | Career| align="left" | 3 years, 2 teams| 62 || 51 || 26.2 || .466 || .314 || .753 || 3.3 || 3.2 || 1.1 || 0.2 || 2.0 || 7.4

Playoffs

|-|style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"| 2015| align="left" | Minnesota| 10 || 0 || 22.1 || .385 || .308 || .667 || 2.1 || 2.7 || 0.9 || 0.1 || 1.6 || 5.2 |-| align="left" | 2016| align="left" | Minnesota| 6 || 0 || 8.5 || .200 || .500 || .000 || 1.0 || 1.2 || 0.3 || 0.0 || 0.7 || 1.2|-| align="left" | Career| align="left" | 2 years, 1 team| 16 || 0 || 17.0 || .343 || .333 || .667 || 1.7 || 2.1 || 0.7 || 0.1 || 1.3 || 3.7

EuroLeague

SeasonTeam GPMPPPPPRPPAPP
2009–101332.212.44.82.5
2010–11Rivas Ecópolis1229.87.63.92.7
2011–12Rivas Ecópolis2132.99.94.82.9
2012–131531.814.14.72.7
2013–141732.18.83.74.6
2014–15Nadezhda Orenburg1630.69.35.04.1
2015–161629.89.14.73.9
2016–171731.68.24.25.5
2017–181027.96.05.45.0
2018–191827.95.94.13.7
2019–20Fenerbahçe823.05.63.62.5

National team

Cruz started playing with Spain's youth teams at 17, winning a total of three medals from 2004 to 2007. She made her debut with the senior team in 2009 at 22 and played her last game in 2019, winning 158 caps 7 PPG, participating in the Rio 2016 Olympics,[6] three World Championships and five European Championships:[7]

Her buzzer-beater shot against Turkey in the 2016 Rio Olympics quarter-finals is one of her key shots with the national team.[8] [9] [10]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Anna Cruz, fichaje top para el Barça CBS . 2022-10-24 . www.fcbarcelona.es . es.
  2. Web site: FIBA Europe profile . https://web.archive.org/web/20170115000746/http://www.fiba.com/europe/euroleaguewomen/2017/Anna-CRUZ#tab=profile . live . January 15, 2017 . fiba.com.
  3. Web site: Federación Española de Baloncesto – Competiciones FEB. competiciones.feb.es. 3 October 2017.
  4. News: Anna Cruz: Cuando estoy de bajón me alegra ver la canasta de los Juegos. Noticias de Baloncesto. El Confidencial. 3 October 2017. es.
  5. News: Anna Cruz profile, EuroLeague Women 2017 FIBA.COM. FIBA.COM. 3 October 2017.
  6. Anna Cruz . 2020-10-07 . 2019-04-22 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190422150430/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/cr/anna-cruz-1.html . dead .
  7. Web site: archive.fiba.com: Players. archive.fiba.com. 3 October 2017.
  8. News: Watch Spain's one-legged buzzer beater to beat Turkey. SBNation.com. 3 October 2017.
  9. News: Basketball: Cruz buzzer beater takes Spain to semis. 16 August 2016. Reuters. 3 October 2017.
  10. News: Spain beats Turkey 64–62 on buzzer beater in women's hoops. USA TODAY. 3 October 2017. en.