Carla Cortijo

Carla Cortijo Sánchez (born July 21, 1987) is a Puerto Rican former professional basketball player. She played college basketball for the Texas Longhorns and the Puerto Rican national team.

Carla Cortijo
Personal information
Born (1987-07-21) July 21, 1987
Carolina, Puerto Rico
NationalityPuerto Rican
Listed height5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Listed weight135 lb (61 kg)
Career information
CollegeTexas (2005–2008)
Playing career2008–2018
PositionPoint guard
Number8
Coaching career2017–present
Career history
As player:
2014–2015Gigantes de Carolina
2015–2017Atlanta Dream
2015–2017Gigantes de Carolina
As coach:
2017Puerto Rico (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
  • 3× BSNF champion (2014–2016)
  • 2× BSNF Finals MVP (2014, 2015)
Stats at WNBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals
Women's basketball
Representing  Puerto Rico
Pan American Games
2011 GuadalajaraTeam competition
Centrobasket
2012 Puerto RicoTeam competition
2014 MexicoTeam competition
Central American and Caribbean Games
2010 MayagüezTeam competition
2014 MexicoTeam competition

Early life

Cortijo was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico to Angel Cortijo and Lourdes Sanchez. She grew up in the city of Carolina, Puerto Rico. Cortijo first earned widespread fame for her basketball skills during two seasons of play for Maria Auxiliadora High School, which went undefeated and won the Puerto Rico commonwealth championship both years. Cortijo was named Puerto Rico's High School Basketball Player of the Year for 2002.

After Cortijo's sophomore season, her family moved to the Houston area.[1] Cortijo attracted national attention as a star point guard for Bellaire High School. She also played AAU basketball for the Houston Elite squad, leading them to the 2004 AAU national title. Cortijo earned Parade Magazine All-American honors for her high school play, and was rated the nation's best point guard in her recruiting class by All Star Girls Report.[2] However, she missed her entire high school senior season with an injury to her left knee.

College career

Cortijo signed with the University of Texas. Early in her freshman season, she re-injured her knee, and received a medical redshirt waiver for the 2005–2006 season.

As a redshirt freshman in 2006–2007, Cortijo played in 28 games for the Longhorns and started in 18. She led the team in assists, with 137 on the season. Cortijo was one of five players named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team and the Big 12 All-Academic First Team.

Cortijo announced during the offseason that she planned to transfer to St. John's University in New York.[3] However, Texas coach Gail Goestenkors eventually persuaded Cortijo to rejoin the Longhorns for the 2007–2008 season.[4][5]

Cortijo is majoring in Spanish and minoring in textiles.

Texas statistics

Source[6]

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
Year Team GP Points FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2005-06 Texas 6 45 37.8% 0.0% 85.0% 3.0 2.3 1.3 - 7.5
2006-07 Texas 30 223 36.3% 25.4% 73.0% 4.4 4.9 1.7 - 7.4
2007-08 Texas 35 353 37.5% 32.6% 75.8% 3.0 4.9 2.0 0.1 10.1
2008-09 Texas 33 230 39.1% 39.1% 71.1% 3.3 4.5 1.3 0.0 7.0
Career 104 851 37.6% 31.3% 74.5% 3.5 4.6 1.6 0.0 8.2

WNBA controversy

Cortijo alleged that Puerto Rican basketball federation's president Carlos Beltrán denied her an opportunity to play for the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)'s Atlanta Dream in order for her to participate with the Puerto Rican women's national basketball team on the 2015 Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Women's Pre-Olympic qualifying tournament.[7]

International career

Cortijo represents Puerto Rico in the international competitions sanctioned by FIBA. As regular point guard, she led the team to the gold medal at the 2011 Pan American Games, which advanced to the finals gathering victories over the United States, Argentina and Brazil. In the gold medal game, Cortijo scored 29 points and recovered 10 rebounds, being Puerto Rico's most productive player in the victory over Mexico.

She was a member of the team which competed for Puerto Rico at the 2011 Pan American Games, winning a gold medal.[8]

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See also
  • List of famous Puerto Ricans

References
  1. Carla Cortijo Article Archived 2008-08-28 at the Wayback Machine
  2. TexasSports.com Archived February 22, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  3. St. John's RedStorm Sports – Women's Sports – Basketball – News – Women's Basketball Player Carla Cortijo To Attend St. John's Archived November 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  4. Cortijo ready to step up and lead young team – Sports
  5. The Associated Press (2007-11-11). "Key Piece of Family Returns to Texas". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-09-05.
  6. "NCAA Statistics". web1.ncaa.org. Retrieved 2017-08-28.
  7. "Federación de baloncesto troncha el sueño de Cortijo en la WNBA". El Nuevo Dia (in Spanish). 2015-08-06. Retrieved 2017-09-05.
  8. "Basketball: Women's Gold Medal Match 18". Guadalajara2011.org.mx. Archived from the original on 2014-08-19.
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