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Shay Doron

(1985 - )

Shay Doron (born April 1, 1985) is a Jewish Israeli professional basketball player currently in the Israeli Basketball League. She is best known as one of the best players in the history of womens basketball at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Doron was born in Ramat Hasharon, Israel and lived there until her junior year in high school. While attending Rotenberg High School, she played on the women’s basketball team and led her team to three State Championships, and two Cup Championships. Doron was also an accomplished Track and Field athlete, winning more than 60 medals in various events.

In 2011, her family moved to New York where she played on the women’s basketball team at Christ the King Regional High School for her junior and senior years of high school. Doron was the only Jewish/Israeli student among 1,800 Catholic students. While in high school, Doron was selected for the McDonald’s All-American women’s team. Doron also participated in the Nike Tournament of Champions, winning the Most Valuable Player and Player of the Tournament awards. In her junior and senior years in high school, Doron was named the Gatorade player of the year award from New York and she led her team to be the #1 ranked women’s high school basketball team in the country.

After high school, Doron accepted a scholarship to the University of Maryland where she eventually helped to resurrect the once downtrodden Maryland womans program. Doron became a quick starter on the Terrapin’s team and helped them beat Duke University to win the 2006 NCAA National Championship for the first time in school history. Doron is ranked in the top 10 for field goal attempts, assists, steals, three-pointers, and three-point attempts in school history. Doron also started more games than anyone else in Maryland women’s basketball history (134 appearances, 119 starts). Doron was named to the All-ACC third team in 2004, the All-ACC first team in 2005, and the All-ACC second team, and ACC All-Academic team in 2006.

In 2005, Doron decided that she wanted to play in Israel and led the Under-20 Israeli National Team to the Division B European Championship title in Brno, Czech Republic. That win was the first ever international tournament title for an Israeli women’s team. She averaged a tournament-best 24.7 points per game and received the MVP award. In that same year, Doron competed in the 2005 Maccabiah Games in Israel, where she led the U.S.A. women’s basketball team to a 5-0 record and a gold medal. She was named the MVP, which was her second tournament honor that year.

In 2006, Doron was named to the U.S. National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

In April 2007, Shay Doron was drafted into the WNBA by the New York Liberty with the 16th pick in the second round. Unfortunately, she saw game action only seven times in the 2007 regular season, totaling 10 points and 3 rebounds in 35 minutes of play. Doron also played limited minutes during the Liberty's 2007 playoff appearances.

After 2007, Doron returned to Israel and played for defending champion Elitzur Ramle in the Israeli league. Ramle reached the semifinals of the EuroCup Women competition, then went on to win the Israeli league title. In 2010 she played for  Municipal MCM Târgovişte in the Romanian League before returning to the Israeli League and Elitzur Ramla again for the 2011 season.


Sources: University of Maryland, Wikipedia; Photo Credit: Noam Galai