Hofstra Pride graduate Marianne Kalin will continue her basketball career, now on the professional level. The forward officially signed with Club Baloncesto Bembibre (Bembibre Basketball Club), the team announced this morning.
“I am very excited to start my professional career,” Kalin said in a press release. “This year will be different from previous years and I am happy to learn about Spain and Bembibre. The culture of basketball in Spain is one of the best.”
Club Baloncesto Bembibre is a member of Liga Femenina Endesa, which is the highest level of women’s basketball league competition in Spain. The league is run by the Spanish Basketball Federation.
Kalin was an ‘ironwoman’ during her time at Hofstra, appearing in the fifth-most games in program history at 124 games. She averaged nearly seven points per game and shot nearly 47 percent from the floor during her career.
The forward averaged over eight points and five rebounds per game in her senior season, the second-highest in both categories for Hofstra. She also led the team with 18 blocks and was eighth in the Colonial Athletic Association shooting 47 percent.
Kalin played four years of basketball with Catz Lappeenranta in her native country of Finland, before arriving at Hofstra. The forward was a member of its junior team in 2012, before earning a promotion to the main team the following season.
The international talent represented Finland in the U-16 European Championship in 2013 and the U-18 European Championship the following two seasons.
Club Baloncesto Bembibre head coach Pepe Vazquez believes Kalin could be a key player not just for the team, but in the league.
“[She] could be one of the most important and most projected players in the country,” Vazquez said in a team press release. “She has room for improvement and this jump reaching the Endesa Women’s League will allow her to develop her game and work harder to show her talent.”
Kalin joined guard Sandra Karsten as the second Class of 2020 graduate inking an overseas contract this year. Karsten signed her first professional deal with the Wetterbygden Sparks, a member of the Swedish Basketball League. It is the second consecutive season a Pride graduate joined a pro team as Boogie Brososki signed with CS Phoenix Constanta in Romania last August.
View the Club Baloncesto Bembibre release, here.
