Nyara Sabally

Nyara Sabally
Sabally with the New York Liberty in 2024
No. 8 – New York Liberty
PositionForward
LeagueWNBA
Personal information
Born (2000-02-26) 26 February 2000 (age 24)
Bandon, Oregon[1]
Listed height6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight204 lb (93 kg)
Career information
CollegeOregon (2018–2022)
WNBA draft2022: 1st round, 5th overall pick
Selected by the New York Liberty
Coaching career2022–present
Career history
As player:
2023–presentNew York Liberty
2023–2024USK Prague
As coach:
2022–2023Sacramento State (asst.)
Career highlights and awards
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Medals
Women's basketball
Representing  Germany
FIBA U-18 European Championship
Gold medal – first place 2018 Italy Team

Nyara Sabally (born 26 February 2000) is a German professional basketball player for the New York Liberty of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She also served as an assistant coach for Sacramento State. She played college basketball at Oregon. She represented Germany at the 2018 FIBA U18 Women's European Championship and won a gold medal. She also represented Germany at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Playing career

[edit]

College

[edit]

On 7 November 2017, Sabally signed with Oregon.[2] During the 2018–19 season in her freshman year, she sat out the season after suffering a torn ACL during the championship game of the 2018 FIBA U18 Women's European Championship in August of 2018.[3] During the 2019–20 season in her redshirt freshman year, she re-tore her ACL in the summer of 2019 and missed a second consecutive season.[4]

During the 2020–21 season in her redshirt sophomore year, she played in 23 of Oregon's 24 games, making 21 starts. She led Oregon in scoring (12.9), rebounding (7.3), field goals (122), double-doubles (4) and double-figure scoring games (19). She ranked third in the Pac-12 in field-goal percentage (54.7), third in offensive rebounding (2.7), fourth in rebounding and tenth in scoring.[3] Following the season she was named to the All-Pac-12 team.[5]

During the 2021–22 season in her redshirt junior year, she led the team in scoring and rebounding and finished sixth in the conference in scoring (15.4) and third in rebounding (7.8). She recorded eight double-doubles, and reached double figures in scoring in 19 of the 24 games. She became the first Pac-12 player since Chiney Ogwumike in 2013 to average at least 15 points, seven rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.3 steals and blocks over the course of a season.[3] Following the season she was again named to the All-Pac-12 team.[6]

On 28 March 2022, Sabally declared for the 2022 WNBA draft. She finished her career at Oregon with 666 points, 354 rebounds and 87 assists in two seasons.[7]

WNBA

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On 11 April 2022, Sabally was drafted fifth overall by the New York Liberty in the 2022 WNBA draft.[8] On 15 April 2022, Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb announced Sabally would miss the 2022 WNBA season due to injury, after she aggravated her right knee, which has twice required surgery for a torn ACL.[9]

Sabally (left) with her Germany national team and New York Liberty teammate Leonie Fiebich in 2024

On 28 February 2023, Sabally signed a rookie scale contract with the Liberty.[10] She missed the first half of the 2024 WNBA season recovering from a back injury before the Olympics break, where Sabally joined her Liberty teammate Leonie Fiebich on the German national basketball team.[11] During game 5 of the 2024 WNBA Finals against the Minnesota Lynx, she scored 13 points and seven rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench to help the Liberty win their first WNBA championship in franchise history.[12] During the third quarter she scored seven consecutive points for the Liberty, helping them gain their first lead of the game. During overtime she recorded a steal and a layup to extend the Liberty's lead to five points. She also recorded a defensive rebound with 13 seconds remaining in overtime to help secure the win.[13][14][15] The Liberty's star player Breanna Stewart said in the post game press conference that Sabally was "The X Factor" for contributing to the team's championship win.[16]

Career statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 TO  Turnovers per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 Bold  Career best ° League leader
† Denotes season(s) in which Sabally won a WNBA championship

WNBA

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Regular season

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Stats current through end of 2024 season

WNBA regular season statistics[17]
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2022 Did not play due to injury
2023 New York 33 0 7.9 .424 .222 .750 2.1 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.5 2.3
2024† New York 26 0 13.5 .575 .000 .700 4.0 0.6 0.9 0.7 0.5 4.9
Career 2 years, 1 team 59 0 10.4 .514 .182 .722 3.0 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.5 3.5

Playoffs

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WNBA playoff statistics
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2023 New York 4 0 1.3 — — — 0.0 0.3 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0
2024† New York 9 0 10.1 .542 — .875 3.4 0.0 0.7 0.7 1.7 4.4
Career 2 years, 1 team 13 0 7.4 .542 — .875 2.4 0.1 0.5 0.5 1.2 3.1

College

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Ratios
YEAR Team GP GS MP FG% 3P% FT% RBG APG BPG SPG PPG
2019–20 Oregon 1 0 0.0 — — 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
2020–21 Oregon 23 21 24.5 .547 .571 .616 7.3 1.8 1.2 1.0 12.9
2021–22 Oregon 24 20 26.6 .527 .534 .725 7.8 1.9 1.4 1.4 15.4
Career 48 41 25.0 .536 .480 .684 7.4 1.8 1.2 1.3 13.9
Totals
YEAR Team GP GS MP FG FGA 3P 3PA FT FTA REB A BK ST PTS
2019–20 Oregon 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2020–21 Oregon 23 21 563 122 223 8 14 45 73 167 42 22 27 297
2021–22 Oregon 24 20 639 139 264 4 11 87 120 187 45 33 34 369
Career 48 41 1202 261 487 12 25 132 193 354 87 60 56 666

Source[18]

National team career

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Sabally made her international debut for Germany at the 2015 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship for Women, where she averaged nine points, 13.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. She represented Germany at the 2018 FIBA U18 Women's European Championship, where she averaged 17.3 points, 12.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game, and won a gold medal, and was named tournament MVP.[19]

On 15 July 2024, Sabally was named to Germany women's national basketball team to compete at the 2024 Summer Olympics.[20] On 29 July 2024, in Germany's first group stage game against Belgium, she suffered an injury when teammate Leonie Fiebich inadvertently hit her in the chin with her shoulder while passing her on a handoff in the final minute of the third quarter. Prior to her injury, she was tied with Fiebich as the team's second-leading scorer with 16 points, behind only her sister Satou Sabally.[21] Germany defeated Belgium 83–69, its first ever win in Olympic competition.[22]

Coaching career

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On 12 July 2022, Sabally was named an assistant coach for Sacramento State.[23] During her first season, she helped lead the Hornet to a 25–8 record, the Big Sky Conference regular season championship, 2023 Big Sky tournament championship, and their first ever appearance in the 2023 NCAA tournament.[24]

Personal life

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Nyara's older sister Satou, who played for Oregon in both seasons that Nyara missed due to injury, is a professional basketball player for the Dallas Wings of the WNBA.[25]

References

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  1. ^ Hawthorne, Jonathan (2017-04-19). "Nyara Sabally, sister of Oregon signee Satou, verbally commits to Ducks program". Daily Emerald. Retrieved 2024-10-11.
  2. ^ Medow, Shawn (7 November 2017). "Nyara Sabally and Taylor Chavez sign with Oregon". Daily Emerald. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  3. ^ a b c "Nyara Sabally". goducks.com. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  4. ^ Lim, Brady (31 August 2019). "Oregon women's basketball forward Nyara Sabally out for season with torn ACL". Daily Emerald. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  5. ^ "Paopao, Sabally Receive All-Pac-12 Honors". goducks.com. 1 March 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  6. ^ "Trio Of Ducks Named All-Pac-12". goducks.com. 1 March 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  7. ^ Ruth, Brady (28 March 2022). "Nyara Sabally declares for WNBA Draft after All-Conference season". Daily Emerald. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  8. ^ Staley, Antwan (11 April 2022). "New York Liberty selects Oregon's Nyara Sabally in the 2022 WNBA Draft". The Register-Guard. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  9. ^ Crepea, James (15 April 2022). "Nyara Sabally will miss 2022 WNBA season, to debut for New York Liberty in 2023". The Oregonian. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  10. ^ "New York Liberty Sign 2022 First Rounder Nyara Sabally". liberty.wnba. 28 February 2023. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  11. ^ "Nyara Sabally Faces Instant Test Upon Return to Liberty". SI.com. 15 July 2024. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  12. ^ Magliocchetti, Geoff (21 October 2024). "Liberty's Nyara Sabally Becomes Finals Unexpected Heroine". SI.com. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  13. ^ Dalzell, Noa (21 October 2024). "How a Liberty reserve and a halftime adjustment helped secure the WNBA Finals". SBNation.com. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  14. ^ Creme, Charlie (20 October 2024). "How the Liberty beat the Lynx to win 2024 WNBA championship". ESPN.com. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  15. ^ "Liberty's Nyara Sabally deserves her flowers for heroic WNBA Finals performance". Yahoo Sports. 21 October 2024. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  16. ^ Reilly, Bridget (21 October 2024). "Nyara Sabally emerges as unlikely hero in Liberty's championship win". New York Post. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  17. ^ "Nyara Sabally WNBA Stats". Basketball Reference.
  18. ^ "Nyara Sabally College Stats". sports-reference.com. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
  19. ^ "Nyara Sabally". fiba.basketball. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  20. ^ "Sabally Sisters Headed to Paris Games". goducks.com. 15 July 2024. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  21. ^ Magliocchetti, Geoff (29 July 2024). "Germany Survives Liberty Friendly Fire in Olympic Debut". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  22. ^ Arnold, Geoffrey C. (31 July 2024). "Paris Olympics: Former Oregon Ducks stars Satou and Nyara Sabally lead Germany to historic win". The Oregonian. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  23. ^ Crepea, James (12 July 2022). "Former Oregon women's basketball forward Nyara Sabally joins Sacramento State coaching staff". The Oregonian. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  24. ^ Davidson, Joe (19 March 2023). "'Big stage': Sac State's dream season ends with loss to UCLA in women's NCAA Tournament". The Sacramento Bee. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  25. ^ Hatfield, Jenn (9 November 2021). "'I don't know if we've had one like her': Sabally sisters are both one of a kind at Oregon". thenexthoops.com. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
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