TTT Rīga is a professional women's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

club based in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. "TTT" means Tram and Trolley Trust. The team held its first official game on 5 November 1958. The next 25 years are known as the ''First Golden age'' of the club. Internationally, the club was also known as Daugava Riga, due to the fact that Daugava was the predecessor of TTT Riga in the 1950s.

History

Led by famous Latvian basketball player and coach Olgerts "Bohums" Altbergs, TTT Riga conquered its first European title in 1960, winning the European Cup for Women's Champion Clubs (since 1992 known as EuroLeague Women). Dzidra Uztupe-Karamiseva, Vita Silina-Luka (Karpova), Dzintra Kiepe-Baka and other outstanding players of the time bring women basketball to new levels. Seventeen more European titles were added during next 22 years – achievement unequalled until this day. The rise of Uljana Semjonova, who joined TTT Riga in 1965, at the age of 13, confirmed golden status of „TTT". From 1964 to 1975 TTT earned 12 consecutive European titles. In 18 seasons of international competition Uljana Semjonova never lost a game in national team competition, a record that will almost certainly never be repeated. The late 1980s and 1990s marked a decline of the once famous club. The best Latvian players, with Semojonova being the first one, continued their professional careers in France, Spain and Italy. It took ten years after Latvia regained independence, while TTT re-entered the Liliana Ronchetti cup in 2001. Their entry followed only five years later. The autumn of 2006 was a turning point in history of the club. New leadership and new management launched a long term project to unite the best Latvian players under the famous club name, first foreign internationals – like Brazilian and WNBA star Iziane Castro Marques – came to Latvia. In the spring of 2007 TTT Riga after one year silence regained the Latvian title and applied for the participation in FIBA Euroleague Women. Season of 2007–2008 will be the 50th for the club.

Players of note

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famers

Uļjana Semjonova Uļjana Larionovna Semjonova (russian: Ульяна Ларионовна Семёнова, Ul'yana Larionovna Semyonova; born 9 March 1952) is a retired Latvian basketball player who competed for the Soviet Union. Standing at least Semjonova ...

, C, 1982–1983, Inducted 1993

Current roster

Notable past players

Ieva Tāre Ieva Tāre (born March 15, 1974 in Riga) is a former Latvian women's basketball player who has represented SK Cēsis and Latvia women's national basketball team. Tāre was trained by the current Latvian national women's team coach Ainars Zvirg ...

* Iciss Tillis

Championships

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its nam ...

's EuroLeague Women: 18 (1960–1962, 1964–75, 1977, 1981, 1982) *

Ronchetti Cup The Ronchetti Cup (called till 1996 ''European Cup Liliana Ronchetti'') was an annual women’s basketball European club competition held by FIBA between the years 1972 and 2002. It was the second competition in European basketball, after the Eur ...

: 1 (1987) *

Eastern European Women's Basketball League The European Women's Basketball League, shortly EWBL, formerly known as Eastern European Women's Basketball League or EEWBL, is a top-level professional regional basketball league, featuring female clubs from EWBL members ( Belarus, Czech Republi ...

: 2 (2016, 2019) *USSR Championships: 21 * Latvian Championships: 14 (1992, 1993, 1995, 2001-2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015)

References

External links

Official website
Sport in Riga Women's basketball teams in Latvia EuroLeague Women clubs Basketball teams established in 1958 {{Europe-basketball-team-stub