Salimatou Kourouma (born September 25, 1999) is a forward basketball professional player who plays for Mali women's national basketball team and Arizona Wildcats.[1]
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 25 September 1999 Kati, Mali |
| Nationality | Malian |
| Listed height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Life Prep Academy |
| College | Grayson (2019–2021) Little Rock (2021–2023) Arizona (2023–present) |
| Position | Forward |
Personal life
editSalimatou Kourouma parents are Souleymane Kourouma and Fatoumatou Guiro. She has two brothers and two sisters; Dramane and Karim, Batoma and Katiatou respectively.[2]
Career history
editDuring Kourouma high school she played for Life Prep Academy where she earned HCAA all-state honors.[3]
Before she begin her college career 2020-2021, she redshirted in 2019-2020 at Grayson College and then transferred to Arkansas-Little Rock in 2021-2022 where she earned Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year after averaging 17.8 points per game in conference play.[4][5]
Kourouma started playing for the Arizona Wildcats during the 2023-2024 season.[6][7] She scored the first collegiate basket on their win over Point Loma Nazarene, 52-44.[8] Kourouma have played 13 games at Arizona Wildcats with 9.5 points per game, 3.3 rebounds per game, 0.8 assist per game, 1.2 steals per game, 1.2 personal fouls and 1.4 turnovers in 21 minutes per game before been transferred to Oregon Duck's women's basketball.[9][10][11][12][13]
National team career
editKourouma started her basketball career with Mali national youth team on 2015 during the FIBA Africa U16 women's and started playing with Mali national senior team at the 2022 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup.[14]
She fought with Kamite Elisabeth Dabou during the 2022 FIBA Women's World Cup in Sydney, Australia after their 81-68 defeat against Serbia. On 27 September 2022 the players apologized for their fight. According to them, they said "it was not our intention and we were frustrated because of the loss. We are here to apologize to the world of basketball and FIBA World Cup".[15][16][17][18][19][20]
References
edit- ^ "Salimatou Kourouma Biography". ESPN. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
- ^ "Sali Kourouma - 2022-23 - Women's Basketball". Little Rock Athletics. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
- ^ "Salimatou Kourouma - Women's Basketball". University of Arizona Athletics. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
- ^ Morales, Javier (11 April 2023). "Arizona adds forwards Beh & Kourouma from transfer portal | ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com". Retrieved 25 March 2024.
- ^ "Little Rock Inks Sali Kourouma to National Letter of Intent". Little Rock Athletics. 21 April 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
- ^ Brown, P. J. (27 September 2023). "Arizona basketball transfer Sali Kourouma motivated by her 'big school' opportunity". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
- ^ Morales, Javier (11 April 2023). "Arizona adds forwards Beh & Kourouma from transfer portal | ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com". Retrieved 23 April 2024.
- ^ Brown, P. J. (3 November 2023). "New Wildcat Sali Kourouma comfortable stepping into the spotlight, helping teammates in any way". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
- ^ Doss, K. (20 April 2024). "Former Arizona forward Sali Kourouma transfers to Oregon women's basketball". Arizona Desert Swarm. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
- ^ "Oregon women's basketball secures commitment from Arizona transfer Salimatou Kourouma". The Register-Guard. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
- ^ "Oregon women's basketball secures commitment from Arizona transfer Salimatou Kourouma". Yahoo Sports. 20 April 2024. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
- ^ "Ducks land wing player Sali Kourouma from Arizona in transfer portal". 247Sports. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
- ^ "Oregon women's basketball is signing transfer guard Salimatou Kourouma from Arizona". Happy ADV. 20 April 2024. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
- ^ "Salimatou Kourouma - Player Profile". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
- ^ Ramsay, George (27 September 2022). "Mali basketball players apologize after mixed zone fight". CNN. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
- ^ "Mali players apologize for fighting; FIBA investigating". AP News. 27 September 2022. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
- ^ "Mali's Kourouma, Dabou fight following loss to Serbia". 27 September 2022. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
- ^ Owusu, Eric (27 September 2022). "Mali players fight each other at Basketball World Cup". Adomonline.com. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
- ^ "Women's Basketball World Cup: Fiba launch investigation after fight breaks out among Mali players". BBC Sport. 26 September 2022. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
- ^ Mintah, Yaw Loic (27 September 2022). "[VIDEO]:Malian teammates fight as team crashes out of Women's Basketball World Cup". Citi Sports Online. Retrieved 26 March 2024.