Ezinne Kalu
Ezinne Kalu (born 26 June 1992) is an American-born Nigerian basketball player for Landerneau Bretagne Basket and the Nigerian national team. In the 2017, 2019 and 2021 Afrobasket events, She represented D'Tigress, Africa's highest-ranked side and won three straight championship for them. She was named 2019 Women's Afrobasket Most Valuable Player (MVP). Early life. She was born in Newark, New Jersey to Gwendolyn Covington and Joseph Kalu. Her mother was born and raised in Greenville, SC. Her father is Nigerian. Kalu attended Science Park High School in Newark, New Jersey. She was the first  woman in the school's history to score over 2,000 points. Her jersey was retired in December 2017. After graduating in 2010, Kalu received a full scholarship to HBCU Savannah State University in Savannah, GA. There her team won their first MEAC Championship in 2015. She was also the first to score over 2,000 career points in the school. She graduated in May 2015 with a bachelor's degree in African Studies. Professional career. After graduating from Savannah State, Kalu spent two seasons in the Portuguese Championship. In 2015, she signed with Clube Desportivo Torres Novas (22.7 points, 6.0 rebounds  and 5.1 assists). At the end of the her first season in Portugal, she signed for Olivais Coimbra (21.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists). In 2017, Kalu signed with Hungarian club Vasas Akademia for one season (17.0 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists). In November 2018, she signed with German club Keltern. She helped Keltern qualify for the final of the German Championship (13.6 points and 2.5 assists). In 2019, she joined the French side Landerneau BB, where she averaged 15.7 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists in the 2019-2020 season. International career. Kalu played for the Nigerian  national team at the 2016 FIBA women's Olympic qualifying tournament. She participated in the 2017 Women's Afrobasket, where she averaged 12 pts, 3 assists per game. The team won the tournament. Kalu participated in the 2018 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup in Spain for the Nigerian national basketball team. She averaged 10.6 points, 3 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game during the tournament. Kalu then participated in the 2019 Women's Afrobasket where she was named Most Valuable player of the tournament. She averaged 14 points and 3 assists during the tournament. She competed at 2020 FIBA  Olympic qualifying tournament, averaging 16 points, 2.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. She was named to the all Star five of the FIBA olympic qualifying tournament holding in Serbia Kalu also participated in Tokyo 2020 Olympics in July 2021 and was part of the Nigerian team that narrowly lost to Team USA, leading the team with 16 points. In September 2021, she participated in the Afrobasket tournament emerging champion with Nigeria's D'Tigress averaging 12.4 points, 3 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game. She was named to the all Star team of the tournament.