U of R Star To Continue Career In Native Land

Former University of Regina women's basketball player Joanna Zalesiak signed a one-year contract on Monday morning with Energa Torun, a team in Poland's top professional league.

Zalesiak will join an Energa Torun squad that finished with an impressive 17-9 record during the PLKK regular season last year and won a best-of-three quarterfinal series before bowing out in the semifinals of the league playoffs.

“When we recruited Joanna, we made a plan for her to play three years and then go back overseas to play professionally,” Cougars head coach Dave Taylor said. “I'm thrilled it has worked out so well for both our program and for Joanna. She's been one of the top players in our school's history and I look forward to watching her in the next stage of her career.”

Zalesiak was a three-time Canada West all-star and a two-time All-Canadian during her time at the U of R, and was named Canada West's Most Valuable Player during the 2011-12 campaign. Despite playing just three seasons with the Cougars, she finishes her career ranked second in school history with 315 assists and 10th on the U of R's all-time list with 931 career points.

Torun is located in north-central Poland about 275 kilometres east of Zalesiak's hometown of Gorzów Wielkopolski. Energa Torun's season begins on Sept. 29.