Hanna Zavecz

Hanna Zavecz (born 21 August 1985) is an Australian basketball player who has played for the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), Bendigo Spirit and Bulleen Boomers in the WNBL. She has also played university basketball in the United States for the University of Wyoming. She earned her first call up to the Australia women's national basketball team in 2010 and participated in the national team's 2012 Summer Olympics qualifying campaign.

Hanna Zavecz
Personal information
Born (1985-08-21) 21 August 1985
Fitzroy, Victoria
NationalityAustralian
Listed height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Career information
CollegeWyoming (2004–2008)
WNBA draft2008 / Undrafted
Playing career2002–2015
PositionGuard / Forward
Career history
2002–2004Australian Institute of Sport
2008–2009Bendigo Spirit
2009–2011Bulleen Boomers
2011–2013UNIQA Sopron
2013–2014Logan Thunder
2014–2015Canberra Capitals
Medals
Representing  Australia
Basketball
FIBA Oceania Championship
2011 Australia Team
2013 Australia / New Zealand Team

Personal

Hanna Elizabeth Zavecz[1] was born on 21 August 1985[1][2] and is from Melbourne, Victoria.[1][3] Her parents are Peter and Marianne and she has two older brothers.[1] Zavecz is 183 centimetres (72 in) tall.[2][4] Sports Illustrated said she was six foot tall.[5] Zavecz attended the University of Wyoming from 2004 to 2008, where she majored in human nutrition and food.[1][5] One of her biggest challenges moving from Melbourne to Wyoming in to attend university was the cold winter weather.[5]

Basketball
Jenna O'Hea and Hanna Zavecz at the Opals camp held at the Australian Institute of Sport.

Zavecz plays as a guard and forward,[2][4][6] and is considered a "tall".[7]

Zavecz played representative basketball for Country Victoria at the under-16 and under-18 levels at the national championships.[1][8] In 2001, she was the captain of her side on the under-16 level.[1] She represented Victoria in the Australian national under-20 championships in 2003, where her team took home gold.[1] Prior to going to the United States, she played for Bulleen in the Victorian Basketball League where she was coached by Raquel Conel.[1]

University

Zavecz considered several United States universities including Idaho State, Georgia Tech and Memphis before choosing the University of Wyoming,[1] where was played forward from 2004 to 2008.[1] Her university coach had never seen her play before she came to play for the team. Zavecz's club coach convinced him to offer her a scholarship.[5]

In Zavecz's first Conference game as a freshman, playing BYU University, she scored 32 points and had 7 blocks setting two Freshman records for the conference. In her freshman year, she was a Second Team All-Mountain West Conference (MWC) selection.[1] In her second season with the team, they won 21 games. Nationally, they were ranked 18th.[5] In her third season with the team, they were 16-1 to start the season.[5] She was named by the Associated Press as an Honorable Mention All-American in 2008.[3] Over the course of her career there, she averaged 14 points per game, 6.1 rebounds per game, 3.6 assists per game, 48 total blocked shots and 47 total steals.[8] She was a three-time First-Team All-MWC player and two times Defensive Player of the Year for the Mountain West Conference.[3]

Zavec at Training Camp

Zavecz was one of seven international players to have played for Wyoming through the 2011–12 season.[9]

Europe

Zavecz played for the Uniqa Euroleasing Sopron, Hungary in 2012.[2][4][6][10] In the season, she played 11 games, averaging 8.2 points per game and 4.5 rebounds per game.[6]

WNBL

Zavecz has played in Australia's WNBL.[3][8][11] In 2002 and 2003, she had a scholarship with the Australian Institute of Sport and played for the AIS WNBL team.[1][5][8][11][12] While at the AIS, they ingrained in her the need to eat healthy.[5] While on road trips with the WNBL AIS team, they were never allowed to eat fast food.[5] She signed with the Bendigo Spirit in 2008.[3][8] She played for the Bendigo Spirit in the 2008/2009 season in the forward position.[13] Going into the 17th round, she was averaging 6.2 points and 4.6 rebounds per game.[13] She missed six games in the first sixteen rounds because she was injury, most of them before the WNBL Christmas break.[13] She played for the Bulleen Boomers in 2010/2011, her first year with the team.[14] Early in the season, she missed the first two games which were Bulleen losses.[14]

National team

Zavecz earned her first call up to the Australia women's national basketball team in 2010[15] and participated in a tour of China, USA and Hungary in mid-2010.[16] In late July 2011, she played in a three-game test series against China played in Queensland.[17] In the first game against China, Australia won 73-67 with Zavec contributing in key moments in the fourth quarter.[18] She played in the 2012 Summer Olympic qualifying game against the New Zealand women's national basketball team.[7] She was named to the 2012 Australia women's national basketball team.[19]

References
  1. 5  Hanna Zavecz. "Player Bio: Hanna Zavecz — University of Wyoming Official Athletic Site". Wyomingathletics.com. Archived from the original on 26 February 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  2. "London 2012 - 2012 Australian Opals squad named". London2012.olympics.com.au. 16 February 2012. Archived from the original on 24 April 2012. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  3. "Zavecz takes her game home — Wyoming Tribune Eagle Online". Wyomingnews.com. 30 July 2008. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  4. "Lauren Jackson, Kirsti Harrow Head Australian Squad Trying to Break US Domination". The Australian. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  5. "SI.com — Writers — Kelli Anderson: Choice Import — Tuesday January 22, 2008 11:41AM". Sportsillustrated.cnn.com. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  6. "AUS — Opals announce training camp squad". FIBA. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  7. "No surprises in Opals' preliminary Games squad". Stuff.co.nz. 16 February 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  8. "Zavecz signing gives lift to Spirit — Local News — Sport — Basketball". Bendigo Advertiser. 25 June 2008. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  9. "Style clash: Panthers women must counter patient Wyoming — Pittsburgh Post-Gazette". Post-gazette.com. 16 March 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  10. Travis King (17 February 2012). "Kristi eyes fourth Games — Local News — Sport — Basketball". Bendigo Advertiser. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  11. Australian Institute of Sport; Basketball Australia (2011). AIS Basketball 2011. Canberra: Australian Sports Commission. p. 60. This is a booklet published by the Australian Sport Commission, has a copyright notice on the page following the cover page.
  12. "Past Athletes : Australian Institute of Sport : Australian Sports Commission". Ausport.gov.au. Archived from the original on 12 February 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  13. "Injury floors Zavecz — Local News — Sport — General". Bendigo Advertiser. 2 February 2009. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  14. Smith-Gander, Diane, ed. (2011). "Bulleen Boomers". IiNet WNBL Finals Series (Official Programme) (2010/2011 ed.). Basketball Australia: 4–5.
  15. "Jackson, Taylor to again lead the Opals". Wwos.ninemsn.com.au. Archived from the original on 14 March 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  16. "Opals hit road for world title lead-up". Nine MSN. Archived from the original on 22 July 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  17. "Opals missing WNBA stars for China". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 13 July 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  18. "Opals withhold fighting Chinese". SportsAustralia.com. 24 July 2011. Archived from the original on 15 April 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  19. "Basketball Australia : 2012 Squad". Basketball Australia. 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
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