Yevheniia Putra, who last played in Romania’s top tier for Cluj Napoca, has joined Miguel Ortega’s growing squad ahead of the 2023/24 Women’s British Basketball League and EuroCup season. The 6’3″ Centre becomes the latest addition in a building roster amongst a collection of exciting Gladiators news.
This Summer, Putra, an impressive youngster, is set to play with Ukraine’s U20 side at FIBA’s European Championships in Romania. On Friday, she and the squad will play against Gladiators’ Assistant Coach, Chantelle Handy’s GB side (watch LIVE on GBBasketball.tv). She has previously represented her country at the U18 and U16 levels. Last year, at the U18 tournament, she put up a solid 5.1 PPG, 6.3 RPG and 1.6 APG across seven fixtures.
The 22/23 season with Cluj marked her first professionally, having previously played in Spain in the youth ranks of Gran Canaria, and with KSLI-Kyiv in her home nation prior to that. In her debut pro campaign, Putra averaged an impressive 11.9 points, 9.1 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game. Her play earned her a spot as an honourable mention in EuroBasket.com’s All-Romanian League team. Her career high came in April when she had 21 points in a win over Targu Secuiesc.
The centre has proven to be a strong inside presence, with her physicality being one of her key areas of play. Also, she was a solid contributor on the defensive side, consistently coming out with impressive showings of blocks, steals, and defensive boards every game.
Yevheniia becomes only the latest of an array of Miguel Ortega’s signings, marking a strong start to the off-season, as his squad builds and prepares for a challenging domestic and continental campaign.
