Shay Doron

(1985- )

By Ariel Bard

Shay Doron is currently a professional basketball player on the New York Liberty, of the WNBA. She was born in Ramat Hasharon, Israel on April 1, 1985, 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.

Doron and her family moved to New York, where she played on the women’s basketball team at Christ the King Regional High School, for her last two 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, and she was the first woman from New York to be selected for that team. Doron also participated in the Nike Tournament of Champions, and won 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. After averaging 17.2 points, 4.2 assists, 5.5 rebounds, and 6.0 steals per game. She led her team to be the #1 ranked women’s high school basketball team in the country.

Doron went to the University of Maryland, and majored in Criminal Justice and Criminology. Doron was a starter on the Terrapin’s women’s basketball team, and helped them beat Duke University to win the National Championship for the first time in school history in 2006. 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. Doron was named to the U.S. National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame 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 April 2007, Shay Doron was drafted into the WNBA by the New York Liberty. She was the 2nd round, 16th overall pick, and she wore the #2 on her jersey.

Source: Wikipedia. Photo Credit: Noam Galai, www.Shaydoron.net