Sheja Pedia, the leader of the American match, who has not previously acquired Latvian citizenship, has signed an agreement with the team of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) “Mystics” in Washington, informs the club.
Former TTT Rīga player Pedija joined Mystics last June, when he played 15 games. During this time, she played an average of 4.7 minutes, scoring 1.7 points and taking 61.5% of the game.
She is now back in the Mystics and will spend her second season at the WNBA.
Last year, Pedija hoped to acquire Latvian citizenship to help the national team in the European Championships, but she failed, because the Saeima’s Citizenship, Migration and Social Cohesion Commission decided not to take the matter further.
Pedija was also included in the list of candidates for the Latvian national team, moreover, the team’s head coach Mārtiņš Zībarts praised the player’s skills, evaluating the idea of her naturalization positively.
However, many other basketball people did not support the idea of naturalizing Pedia. Anete Jēkabsone-Žogota, for example, spoke negatively.
For two seasons (2017/18) and 2018/19) Pedija played in the best Latvian team “TTT Rīga”. 2018./19. In the 2006 season at the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Euroleague tournament, she excelled in the match with an average of 15.2 points, 5.3 assists and 4.6 rebounds. She was repeatedly included in the symbolic selections of the round.
The American defense was recognized as the most valuable player in the Baltic League, with the European Women’s Basketball League (EWBL) also receiving the MVP title. She later went to Mystics, but last season after leaving the WNBA she spent with the French club Montpellier and the Turkish team Adana Botas.
In the 2012 WNBA draft, Pedia was numbered 23rd in the second round by the Chicago Sky team, in which she never played.
