2020–21 Úrvalsdeild kvenna (basketball)

Domino's deild kvenna^1
Duration	23 September 2020 – 2 June 2021
Games played	84
Teams	8
TV partner(s)	Stöð 2 Sport
Regular season
Top seed	Valur
Relegated	KR
Finals
Champions	Valur
Runners-up	Haukar
Semifinalists	Keflavík, Fjölnir
Finals MVP	Helena Sverrisdóttir
Awards
Domestic MVP	Sara Rún Hinriksdóttir
Foreign MVP	Daniela Wallen
Statistical leaders
Points Annika Holopainen 25.9 Rebounds Daniela Wallen 17.0 Assists Haiden Palmer 7.9
Records
Biggest home win	Valur 106–52 KR (21 April 2021)
Biggest away win	Haukar 103–57 KR (8 May 2021)
Highest scoring	Haukar 120–77 KR (10 March 2021)
Winning streak	Keflavík (9 games)
Losing streak	Snæfell (11 games)
← 2019–20 2021–22 → All statistics correct as of 3 June 2021. ^1 Sponsored league name, referring to Úrvalsdeild kvenna.

The 2020–21 Úrvalsdeild kvenna is the 64th season of the Úrvalsdeild kvenna, the top tier women's basketball league on Iceland. The season started on 23 September 2020. On 7 October, the Icelandic Basketball Association postponed the season for two weeks do to another Coronavirus outbreak in Iceland.[1] It concluded on 2 June 2021 with Valur winning their second title after beating Haukar 3–0 in the Úrvalsdeild finals.[2]

Competition format

The participating teams first play a conventional round-robin schedule with every team playing each opponent twice "home" and twice "away" for a total of 28 games. The top four teams qualify for the championship playoffs whilst the bottom team will be relegated to 1. deild kvenna.

Teams

Team	City, Region	Arena	Head coach
Breiðablik	Kópavogur	Smárinn	Ívar Ásgrímsson
Fjölnir	Grafarvogur	Dalhús	Halldór Karl Þórisson
Haukar	Hafnarfjörður	Schenkerhöllin	Bjarni Magnússon
Keflavík	Keflavík	TM Höllin	Jón Halldór Eðvaldsson
KR	Reykjavík	DHL-Höllin	Francisco Garcia
Skallagrímur	Borgarnes	Fjósið	Guðrún Ósk Ámundadóttir
Snæfell	Stykkishólmur	Fjárhúsið	Halldór Steingrímsson
Valur	Reykjavík	Origo-völlurinn	Ólafur Jónas Sigurðsson

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced with	Date of appointment
Snæfell	Gunnlaugur Smárason	End of contract	13 March 2020[3]	Off-season	Halldór Steingrímsson	28 May 2020[4]
Valur	Darri Freyr Atlason[5]	Resigned	4 May 2020		Ólafur Jónas Sigurðsson	4 May 2020
KR	Benedikt Guðmundsson[6]	Resigned	11 May 2020		Francisco Garcia	25 May 2020[7]
KR	Francisco Garcia	Fired	5 October 2020	8th	Mike Denzel	5 October 2020

Regular season

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Valur	21	18	3	1623	1302	+321	36	Qualification to playoffs
2	Haukar	21	15	6	1560	1392	+168	30
3	Keflavík	21	14	7	1647	1527	+120	28
4	Fjölnir	21	14	7	1661	1536	+125	28
5	Breiðablik	21	8	13	1395	1437	−42	16
6	Skallagrímur	21	8	13	1473	1573	−100	16
7	Snæfell	21	5	16	1516	1676	−160	10	Withdrew from the Úrvalsdeild after the season[8]
8	KR	21	2	19	1396	1828	−432	4	Relegated

Updated to match(es) played on 8 May 2021. Source: kki.is

Note: Valur was awarded a 20-0 victory against Breiðablik due to the later using a player that was serving a 1 game suspension. Breiðablik originally won the game 71-67.[9]

Playoffs

The playoffs are played between the four first qualified teams with a 1-1-1-1-1 format, playing seeded teams games 1, 3 and 5 at home.

Bracket

	Semifinals					Finals
	1	Valur	3
	4	Fjölnir	0
						1	Valur	3
						2	Haukar	0
	2	Haukar	3
	3	Keflavík	0

Updated to match(es) played on 21 May 2021. Source: KKÍ

Semifinals

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5
Valur	3–0	Fjölnir	90–49	83–76	78–74	0	0
Haukar	3–0	Keflavík	77–63	80–68	80–50	0	0

Final

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5
Valur	3–0	Haukar	58–45	71–65	74–65	0	0

Notable occurrences

• On 1 April, Snæfell's star player Gunnhildur Gunnarsdóttir announced her retirement from basketball.[10]
• On 6 May, it was announced that Haukar player Sigrún Björg Ólafsdóttir would be leaving the team and attend the University of Tennessee.[11]
• On 6 May, it was reported that Keflavík starter Þóranna Kika Hodge-Carr would attend Iona College and play for the Iona Gaels women's basketball team.[12]
• On 13 May, Hildur Björg Kjartansdóttir left KR and signed with Reykjavík rivals Valur.[13]
• On 15 May, KR's star Danielle Rodriguez announced that she was retiring from playing professionally to fully focus on her coaching career.[14][15]
• On 15 May, Fjölnir announced it had signed Lithuanian national team member Lina Pikčiūtė.[16]
• On 15 May, Embla Kristínardóttir signed with reigning Icelandic Cup champions Skallagrímur after playing for Fjölnir the previous season.[17]
• On 17 June, Skallagrímur signed Sanja Orozović from KR.[18]
• On 25 June, Haiden Palmer signed with Snæfell with whom she won the national championship in 2016.[19]
• On 9 July, Haukar signed Bríet Sif Hinriksdóttir and Elísabeth Ýr Ægisdóttir from Grindavík.[20]
• On 7 August, Valur signed Eydís Eva Þórisdóttir and former national team players Jóhanna Björk Sveinsdóttir and Auður Íris Ólafsdóttir.[21]
• On 19 August, Fjölnir signed Irish national team member Fiona O'Dwyer.[22]
• On 21 August, KR announced that it had signed Finnish national team member Annika Holopainen and American Taryn McCutcheon.[23]
• On 3 September, KR announced that former national team players Margrét Kara Sturludóttir and Unnur Tara Jónsdóttir had retired from basketball.[24]
• On 17 September, Fjölnir announced that it had signed Ariana Moorer to replace injured Areil Hearn. Moorer had previously played in the Úrvalsdeild during the 2016–17 season when she helped Keflavík win the national championship and the Icelandic Cup.[25]
• On 27 September, all players of Keflavík and KR where quarantined and their next games postponed after one of the players from their game on 23 September was diagnosed with COVID-19.[26]
• On 28 September, the Icelandic Basketball Association (KKÍ) ruled that Breiðablik would have to forfeit its unexpected win against defending champions Valur in the first game of the season and be fined 250.000 ISK for using a suspended player in the game. On 11 March 2020, Breiðablik's Fanney Lind Thomas was suspended one game by KKÍ's disciplinary court for two technical fouls and excessive complaining to a referee. Two days later the rest of the 2019–20 season was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic in Iceland. Per KKÍ rules, Fanney would have to serve her suspension in the first game of the 2020–21 season.[27]
• On 5 October, KR fired head coach Francisco Garcia after only two games, both losses. In his place, the team hired Mike Denzel who had previously served as an assistant coach to Stew Johnson for the KR men's team, and Guðrún Arna Sigurðardóttir as his assistant coach. Until Denzel's arrival, Jóhannes Árnason was appointed as an interim coach.[28]
• On 7 October, the season was postponed for two weeks due to another outbreak of Covid-19 in Iceland.[1]
• On 2 January, Fjölnir announced it had released American Fiona O'Dwyer at her own request and signed Portuguese national team player Sara Djassi in her place.[29]
• On 24 February, Sóllilja Bjarnadóttir scored 28 points, including 17 points in a row, for Breiðablik in a victory against KR.[30]
• On 25 February, Icelandic national team member Sara Rún Hinriksdóttir signed with Haukar, rejoining with her twin sister Bríet Sif.[31]
• On 1 March, it was announced that Icelandic national team member Sigrún Björg Ólafsdóttir would join Fjölnir when her season with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga would end.[32]
• On 11 March, Isabella Ósk Sigurðardóttir grabbed 28 rebounds while also scoring 21 points in a 93-76 victory against Snæfell.[33] It was the most rebounds by an Icelandic player in the history of the Úrvalsdeild.[34]
• On 10 May, it was announced that Thelma Dís Ágústsdóttir would finish the season with Keflavík.[35]

References

1. Anton Ingi Leifsson (7 October 2020). "KKÍ og HSÍ frestar öllu mótahaldi í tæpar tvær vikur en KSÍ í viku". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 7 October 2020.
2. Sæbjörn Þór Þórbergsson Steinke (2 June 2021). "Umfjöllun og viðtöl: Valur - Haukar 74-65 - Sópurinn á lofti og Valur Íslandsmeistari". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 3 June 2021.
3. "Snæfell í þjálfaraleit". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 30 March 2020. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
4. Davíð Eldur (28 May 2020). "Halldór tekur við Snæfell". Karfan.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 28 May 2020.
5. Bjarni Helgason (6 May 2020). "Óvissa með framhaldið". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). Retrieved 6 May 2020.
6. Davíð Eldur (11 May 2020). "Benedikt Guðmundsson yfirgefur KR". Karfan.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 11 May 2020.
7. Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson (25 May 2020). "Darri Freyr og Francisco Garcia taka við KR-liðunum". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 25 May 2020.
8. Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson (2 June 2021). "Kvennalið Snæfells dregur lið sitt úr Domino's deildinni". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 2 June 2021.
9. Eva Björk Benediktsdóttir (19 November 2020). "Ákvörðunin stendur og Valur fær dæmdan sigur". RÚV (in Icelandic). Retrieved 8 May 2021.
10. "Skórnir á hilluna eftir fimmtán ára feril". Morgunblaðið. 1 April 2020. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
11. Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson (6 May 2020). "Landsliðskona í körfubolta í 1. deild bandaríska háskólakörfuboltans". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 6 May 2020.
12. Davíð Eldur (6 May 2020). "Þóranna til Iona Gaels". Karfan.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 6 May 2020.
13. Davíð Eldur (13 May 2020). "Hildur Björg í Val". Karfan.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 13 May 2020.
14. Kristjana Arnarsdóttir (15 May 2020). "Krísa hjá kvennaliði KR?". RÚV (in Icelandic). Retrieved 15 May 2020.
15. Bjarni Helgason (15 May 2020). "Ástríðan færst yfir í þjálfun". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). Retrieved 15 May 2020.
16. "Nýliðarnir fá landsliðsmiðherja frá Litháen". Karfan.is (in Icelandic). 15 May 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
17. Anton Ingi Leifsson (15 May 2020). "Embla til liðs við bikarmeistarana". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 16 May 2020.
18. Davíð Eldur (17 June 2020). "Sanja Orozovic í Skallagrím". Karfan.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 17 June 2020.
19. Sindri Sverrisson (25 June 2020). "Snæfell fær Palmer sem vann tvöfalt með liðinu". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 27 June 2020.
20. Ísak Hallmundarson (9 July 2020). "Bríet Sif og Elísabeth til liðs við Hauka". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 9 July 2020.
21. Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson (7 August 2020). "Valskonur bæta við sig þremur nýjum leikmönnum í körfunni". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 7 August 2020.
22. Runólfur Trausti Þórhallsson (19 August 2020). "Nýliðarnir fá tvo leikmenn fyrir komandi átök". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 3 September 2020.
23. Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson (12 August 2020). "Kvennalið KR styrkir sig með tveimur erlendum leikmönnum". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 3 September 2020.
24. Ingvi Þór Sæmundsson (3 September 2020). "Enn kvarnast úr leikmannahópi KR - Kom ekki til greina að draga liðið úr efstu deild". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 3 September 2020.
25. "Fyrrverandi Íslandsmeistari í Grafarvoginn". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 17 September 2020. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
26. Davíð Eldur (27 September 2020). "Allir leikmenn Keflavíkur og KR í sóttkví vegna Covid-19 smits innan liðs". Karfan.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 27 September 2020.
27. Sindri Sverrisson (29 September 2020). "Blikar kæra ákvörðun KKÍ: "Trúi ekki öðru en að við vinnum það mál"". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 29 September 2020.
28. "Fréttatilkynning frá körfuknattleiksdeild KR". KR.is (in Icelandic). Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur. 5 October 2020. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
29. Davíð Eldur (2 January 2021). "Djassi í stað O´Dwyer í Grafarvoginum". Karfan.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 5 January 2021.
30. Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson (25 February 2021). "Skoraði sautján stig í röð og snéri leiknum". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 28 December 2022.
31. Davíð Eldur (25 February 2021). "Sara Rún semur við Hauka í Dominos deildinni". Karfan.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 25 February 2021.
32. Davíð Eldur (1 March 2021). "Sigrún Björg semur við Fjölni". Karfan.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 1 March 2021.
33. Runólfur Trausti Þórhallsson (11 March 2021). "Ótrúlegar frammistöður hjá Isabellu Ósk og Ariel Hearn er Breiðablik og Fjölnir lönduðu góðum sigrum". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 12 March 2021.
34. Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson (12 March 2021). "Isabella Ósk sló Íslandsmetið í fráköstum í gærkvöldi". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 12 March 2021.
35. Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson (10 May 2021). "Thelma Dís spilar með Keflavík í úrslitakeppninni". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 10 May 2021.

External links

• Official Icelandic Basketball Federation website