Women's Basketball Southern Conference

Elon's Nyborg Signs European Pro Contract

ELON, N.C. -- Former Elon University women's basketball player Courtney Nyborg has signed a one-year contract to play professional basketball for BBC Telstar in Luxembourg, a member of the Diekirch Basket-Ball League.

Nyborg, a 6'5" center from Apex, N.C., leaves for Luxembourg Friday and will beginpractices on Tuesday. Nyborg and her new teammates will enter competition with a preseason tournament in Belgium Aug. 28-29. The regular season begins at the end of September following the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece and will run thru April 24, 2005. Postseason play will keep Nyborg busy until the end of May.

Her opportunity to play internationally arose when a friend of Nyborg, who is a high school coach in Holland, put her in touch with BBC Telstar. From there, Nyborg sent video tapes to BBC Telstar and was soon offered a deal.

"I never thought I'd be able to keep playing," said Nyborg. "It's exciting. I'm young, I get to see the world and keep playing the game I love. It's an opportunity of a lifetime."

When speaking about the differences between playing in the United States and playing internationally, Nyborg added, "It's a lot more physical and the play is much quicker. But I've been working all summer with a coach who has had international experience."

Elon head coach Brenda Paul said of Nyborg, "I'm proud that Courtney has earned this opportunity. This is a result of her coming in and working hard for four years. I give credit to Ann Lashley (Elon's associate head coach) for helping her improve during her time at Elon. By Courtney following Ann's leadership and instruction she has only gotten better each season."

Nyborg graduated from Elon in May and left the school ranking first on the career blocked shots list with 197, including an Elon single-season record of 71 this past season; first in career blocks per game, averaging 1.7 blocks per contest in her four seasons with the Phoenix; ninth in career rebounds with 663 and in a tie for third place with 114 games played. She holds the Elon single-game record with seven blocked shots. For her career, Nyborg scored 829 points (7.3 ppg), pulled down 663 boards (5.8 rpg) and recorded 52 steals.