Unnur Tara Jónsdóttir

Unnur Tara Jónsdóttir (born 18 May 1989) is an Icelandic basketball player and a former member of the Icelandic women's national basketball team. During her career, she has won the Icelandic championship three times and was named the 2010 Úrvalsdeild Playoffs MVP.

This is an Icelandic name. The last name is patronymic, not a family name; this person is referred to by the given name Unnur Tara.
Unnur Tara Jónsdóttir
Personal information
Born (1989-05-18) May 18, 1989
Akranes, Iceland
NationalityIcelandic
Listed height181 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Career information
Playing career2005–2010
2017–present
PositionPower forward
Career history
2005–2008Haukar
2008–2009Salama Vaasa
2009–2010KR
2017–2020KR
Career highlights and awards

Playing career

Unnur started her senior team career with Haukar in the Úrvalsdeild kvenna in 2005 and won the national championship with the club in 2006 and 2007. After spending the 2008–2009 season with Salama Vaasa in Finland, she signed with Úrvalsdeild club KR in June 2018[1] She had an outstanding performances during the playoffs,[2] helping KR advance to the Úrvalsdeild finals where they met Hamar in a best-of-five series. In game three of the finals series, she scored 33 points, making 13 of her 19 shots.[3] In the fifth and deciding game of the series, she led KR to the championship, scoring a game high 27 points.[4] For her performance, she was named the Úrvalsdeild Playoffs MVP.[5]

After the season she stepped away from basketball and moved to Hungary to pursue a medical degree.[6][7]

She returned to KR in 2017, helping the club win the second-tier 1. deild kvenna with a perfect 30-0 season and achieve promotion back to the Úrvalsdeild.[8] On 6 February 2019, with KR in first place, Unnur Tara suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in a victory against Breiðablik and was initially ruled out for the rest of the season.[9][10] She returned to the court on 20 March, scoring 14 points in KR's unexpected loss to last-place Breiðablik.[11] In 22 appearances during the regular season, she averaged 9.1 points and 6.2 rebounds. In the playoffs, KR lost to eventual champions Valur 3-1. In the four games, Unnur averaged 5.8 points and 4.0 rebounds.

In KR's second game of the 2019–20 season on 16 October, Unnur, who is a practicing medical doctor outside of basketball, was involved in a controversy with referee Ísak Ernir Kristinsson after she requested permission to enter the court during a stoppage to attend to a teammate who had been suffered a serious leg injury after a hard landing moments before. Ísak denied her the permission and gave her a technical foul after she indicated that she would then ask one of the other referees at the game for permission instead.[12] After the incident caused an uproar with fans, the Icelandic Basketball Association Referee Committee issued a statement where it stated that Ísak admitted that it had been a mistake on his behalf to deny Unnur permission to attend to her injured teammate and that the Committee agreed with that assessment.[13] On 3 September 2020, KR announced that Unnur would not play with the team in the upcoming season.[14]

National team career

Unnur Tara played 3 games for the Icelandic women's national basketball team in 2007.[15] In November 2018, she was selected to the national team squad, for the first time in 11 years, for its upcoming games in the EuroBasket Women 2019 qualification.[16]

Awards, titles and accomplishments

Individual awards

Titles

References
  1. "Unnur Tara Jónsdóttir til liðs við KR". KR.is (in Icelandic). Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur. 28 June 2009. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  2. "Eins og nýr leikmaður í úrslitakeppninni". Fréttablaðið (in Icelandic). 3 April 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  3. Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson (1 April 2010). "Unnur Tara aðeins einu stigi frá stigameti Íslendings". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  4. Kristján Jónsson (7 April 2010). "Allt er þegar þrennt er". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). pp. B1–B3. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  5. "Gullið tímabil hjá bæði Hlyn og Signýju". Fréttablaðið (in Icelandic). 3 May 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  6. "Unnur Tara á leið til Ungverjalands?". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 30 July 2010. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  7. "Ég horfi bara á Signýju og veit að ég á nóg eftir". Fréttablaðið (in Icelandic). 5 August 2010. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  8. Helgi Hrafn Ólafsson (11 April 2018). "KR fara taplausar gegnum 1. deild kvenna og úrslitakeppnina – úrvalsdeild kvenna bíður þeirra". Karfan.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  9. Davíð Eldur (18 February 2019). "Unnur Tara ekki meira með á þessu tímabili". Karfan.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  10. Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson (18 February 2019). "Toppliðið missir einn sinn besta leikmann". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  11. "Óvæntur sigur Breiðabliks á KR". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 20 March 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  12. Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson (17 October 2019). "Atvikið þegar læknirinn fékk tæknivíti fyrir að spyrja hvort hún mætti hjálpa meiddum liðsfélaga". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  13. Kristinn Páll Teitsson (17 October 2019). "Dómaranefnd KKÍ: Mistök að refsa leikmanni KR í gær". Fréttablaðið (in Icelandic). Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  14. Ingvi Þór Sæmundsson (3 September 2020). "Enn kvarnast úr leikmannahópi KR - Kom ekki til greina að draga liðið úr efstu deild". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  15. "A Landslið". kki.is (in Icelandic). Icelandic Basketball Federation. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  16. Ólafur Þór Jónsson (9 November 2018). "Unnur Tara kölluð inní landsliðshópinn eftir ellefu ára fjarveru". Karfan.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 9 November 2018.
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